Under Foreign Stars
by TheSilverDragoon94
Summary: After a dark wizard opens a rift in the sky as a last-ditch escape attempt, Natsu and several other Fairy Tail members find themselves in an alien dimension of wondrous technology, ships that sail the stars, and beings strange and familiar. Separated from his friends, Natsu begins his journey to find not only his lost friends, but a way back home, if one even exists.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first official fanfiction. I'm a big Fairy Tail fan and this idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while. I don't have a beta reader, so I apologize up front for any spelling or grammar errors that snuck past my proofreading. This first chapter is set up for the real meat of the story. I hope you enjoy it and please leave me a review if you have any advice or merely a kind word to say. Hell thanks for just taking the time to read my first chapter.**

 **A note, I've only watched the anime for Fairy Tail and I'm a dub only watcher (blasphemy I know). There won't be any references to nakama or honorifics, about the only thing that has surivived that transition is Juvia's third person speech pattern which I found interesting enough to use.**

 **For reference this story takes place after the Grand Magic Games.**

 **\- TheSilverDragoon94**

* * *

"Hurry up guys! They're getting away!" Natsu yelled as he ran full force up the hill, a feral grin on his face as his legs pumped ferociously, his fellow guildmates lagging behind him.

"We are hurrying flamer!" Gray screamed back, "We're literally five feet behind you!"

"Well move faster snowman!" Natus yelled back as he crested the hill, the late summer breeze rippled through his hair and vest, as he took the briefest of moments to fixate on his targets. There down below, fifty feet ahead, were five figures beating a hasty retreat across a grassy field towards the Kannegh Forest, probably hoping to lose the Fairy Tail members in the ancient, thick forest.

Natsu's focus drifted as he saw the familiar winged shadow of Happy fly over him, the little blue Exceed smiling down at him. Behind him, Gray, Erza, Lucy, Wendy, and Carla, the regular members of his team were just about to reach his position, along with a few other Fairy Tail members who had been brought along for the job.

They had been hired by the Magic Council to hunt down a Xovier, Xenton, Xylophone? Natsu couldn't remember the man's name, but he was some dark wizard and a nasty one to boot. He had hurt a lot of people in the past and he ran a nameless dark guild that was researching forbidden magic. The reward for his capture was unbelievably high, eight million Jewels to be exact. But he wasn't a pushover apparently and his hideout in the Kannegh Hills was well warded. So Erza had brought Levy along for help in disabling any magic traps and barriers, along with asking Gajeel and Juvia to tag along for some extra muscle. Natsu and Gray had protested on the last two respectively, but Natsu wouldn't lie, they had come in handy clearing out the hideout.

"Happy, pick me up! Let's get these clowns!"

"Aye sir!" Happy replied as he swooped down and picked up his lifelong friend and surrogate father.

"Natsu! Stick with the group! It's to dangerous to take these ones on our own alone!" Erza called out, trying to reign in her impulsive teammate, but it fell on deaf ears. Natsu and Happy were already airborne and picking up speed, about to dive bomb the dark wizards below.

 _I swear if we don't all die today, I'm going to beat some discipline into him,_ Erza thought irritably as they started running downhill.

"He sure is extra eager today, isn't he," Lucy panted out next to Erza, "I haven't seen him this hyper since the Grand Magic Games!"

"It's goddamned annoying," Gray replied back as they tried to their best to reach the dark wizards up ahead before the Dragon Slayer could dive bomb into them on his own, "These guys aren't slouches. They're strong and they fight smart. As strong as he thinks he is, there's five against one there."

Lucy was about to agree with him before they all heard the tell-tale yell of Natsu's catch phrase and a cloud of dust appeared up ahead. A collective groan went up from all of the Team Natsu members as they double-timed it.

 _Couldn't he just stick to the plan for once_! Lucy cried to herself internally.

"I'm all fired up now!" came the loud battle cry of Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon Slayer as he dropped from the sky in front of the dark wizards, before letting off a Fire Dragon's Roar directly into their center. Apparently expecting this, Natus snarled as they five black-clad dark mages either flipped out of the way or in the case of the blond man in the center, just summoned a magical barrier and ran through his flame like it was nothing. Natsu immediately launched himself at the blond mage, throwing a punch straight towards his face, only for the evil wizard to flow like water around it, before holding out his hand and pressing it to Natsu's side.

"Knock-Back Effect", was all the man whispered before a wave of pure white energy exploded out of his palm, blowing Natsu into the air. He landed with a hard thud onto his back, his teeth rattling from the impact.

"Natsu! Are you okay!?" Happy called out from above, worry heavy in his voice.

"Yeah I'm fine!" Natsu called back as he got up, grunting as the pain in his back and head started to fade, "But this asshole ain't going to be for much longer!"

By this time the blond man had stopped running as a whip of pure pressurized water slammed into the ground in front of him, throwing up clumps of dirt and grass, giving him pause. Natsu's eyes scanned back as he caught the familiar sight of Juvia off to the right of the dark mage, determination on her pale face as she readied another Water Cane. The sound of more magical attacks going off told him his guildmates had caught up and engaged the other dark mages, but Natsu was focused on the leader.

"Natsu, Juvia will keep him from fleeing, Natsu needs to finish him!" Juvia called out as another Water Cane struck the earth where the dark mage had been but a second before, the man leaping backwards with unnatural speed, his head darting from the water mage back to Natsu as he channeled magic to his hands.

"Thanks Juvia, I owe you one!" Natsu replied back with a grin as flames engulfed his fists and he launched himself towards the man. Much to Natsu's growing annoyance, the blond man dodged both of his attacks before letting of another of those pure white blasts. Natsu snarled as he weaved between the blasts, jumping and launching himself into a fiery kick towards the man before swearing as the man dashed forward, his magic propelling him faster than even Natsu's draconic eyesight could follow. With a snarl, Natsu followed, fully intent on beating the man senseless for dragging out this chase.

All around him Team Natsu was engaged. Erza and Gray were corralling two of the other dark mages, with Gray's ice walls penning them in like rats as Erza closed the distance, blades at the ready in her Heaven's Wheel Armor. A series of flashy explosions told Natsu that Lucy had brought Loki out, while Gajeel already had one mage down and was working on another. That made Natsu's blood boil to see one of his archrivals besting him already and he let off a Fire Dragon's Roar, hoping to singe the blond man's back. The dark mage flipped over the fiery blast as it scorched the earth where he had previously stood, the magical flames trying to lick at his face and feet, before turning back to Natsu and sending off three pale white balls of energy from his outstretched hand. Natsu managed to dodge two of them but the last one blew him off of his feet.

 _Dammit, I knew they said this guy was good, but I can't even land a hit on this asshole_ , Natsu thought as he slammed his fit into the earth, _Time to get serious._

"Alright Xylophone or whatever your stupid name is, I'm done playing around. I'm all fired up!" Natsu screamed as he charged at the man, who looked more resigned than anything.

"His name's Xavier dumbass! Gods man did you even pay attention during the Council meeting?!" Gajeel yelled over as an Iron Dragon Club finished off his last opponent, Levy's Solid Script magic immediately binding him as Wendy came to tend to the defeated and unconscious mage's wounds.

Natsu didn't even register Gajeel's words as he met Xavier, throwing punch after flame-coated punch, but not a single one landed on the man, as the dark mage flowed around Natsu's fists like liquid. Natsu growled, a deep sound that welled up from his core, as Xavier used his strange magic to dash out of Natsu's reach, dodging an attempted clubbing from Gajeel in the process, looking to head back the way he had originally fled from before running straight into a Solid Script Barrier. Natsu grinned, as the dark mage turned back, seeing that his allies had been dispatched by the other Fairy Tail members.

"Xavier Darkathus!" Erza yelled with authority as she flew down in front of Natsu and Gajeel, "By order of the Magic Council, I am placing you under arrest for your crimes of researching into and performing forbidden magic! I am giving you one chance to come peacefully! If you refuse, we will take you in by force!"

"Titania, I must say I'm not surprised that the Council sent its favorite attack dogs after me but Fairy Tail has exceeded my expectations. You truly deserve your reputations," Xavier said with a surprising warmth to his voice, though his face looked tired, sweat beading on his forehead, "But I'll have to respectfully refuse your offer. I am innocent of any wrongdoing, the Council's charges against me are false. I will not be a casualty of injustice because those on the Council wish to silence any threat to their power."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're innocent buddy, that's what they all say," Gray sneered contemplatively, ice already forming in his hands, "And I'm sure all those people you've hurt just had unfortunate accidents. Guys like you make me sick."

"I've hurt no one and neither have the men and women under my command. It's another lie that the Council added to my wanted poster, another charge to lay on me. I am not a monster and I have harmed no one," Xavier said with steel in his voice.

"Oh, so you're saying that the Council just faked the photos of the villages you destroyed, the people you've slaughtered? I don't think so," Lucy said as she pointed an accusing finger at the man, "I don't buy it."

"What if he's telling the truth though?" Wendy piped up, not liking the idea of them attacking a potentially innocent man, "Maybe we should hear him out? There's two sides to every story after all."

"Don't be ridiculous child! This man is cornered, and he knows it. He's just trying to save his own skin," Carla spoke haughtily while hovering just above Wendy, "If he was truly innocent he would come with us to make his case to the Council."

"Not to mention he wouldn't have had his goons attack us either," Lucy replied, crossing her arms underneath her chest, "Not exactly a good indicator of you being the good guy when your throwing the first punch.

"Oh what the hell are we waiting for!" Natsu interjected, "Just let me kick this guy's ass!"

"I guess that makes sense," Wendy agreed, doubt still in her voice. Xavier's words came across with such sincerity to her, but she got ready all the same, trusting her teammates knew best. Xavier sighed, exhaustion heavy in his features as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

"I see your minds are already set on my innocence. Very well. I will not go quietly towards my doom Fairy Tail. Do your worst," Xavier said with resignation, before launching two of his knock-back spells, one heading toward Natsu and Gajeel, the other toward Erza. Erza sliced the pale explosive ball in half, while the two Dragon Slayers darted forward as Xavier put his hands to the ground and his whole body glowed white for the briefest of movements before a large white shockwave shot all from his location with the speed of a run-away train. Natsu barely had time to jump before he sped past him, caching Gajeel as he was mid-jump, exploding in an effect similar to his other attacks, sending the Iron Dragon Slayer flying. Cries of distress from behind made Natsu turn his head to see Wendy, Levy, Carla, Gray, and Lucy also unable to get over the wave quick enough, small explosion spewing the mages all over the blasted grassland. Only Erza, who had remained airborne and Juvia, who had managed to time her leap just right, managed to avoid the blast.

"Gray, my darling are you okay?!" Juvia screamed out in distress as Gray landed face-first into the dirt, groaning as he picked himself up, spiting out dust and rocks.

"Yeah, just peachy, help out instead of worrying about me!" he yelled back as he got up and made an Ice Spear, ready to launch it as soon as he got a clear opening.

"You'll pay for that!" Erza shouted as she launched volleys of swords at Xavier while Natsu began spitting out Fire Dragon's Roars at the renegade wizard, but the man's speed was enough to rival Jellal's or Jet's. In short order, he had outpaced Natsu, deftly twisting and spinning to avoid being impaled on one of Erza's swords, before jumping over a just now recovering Gajeel, planting a palm on him and forcing the Iron Dragon Slayer back to the ground with another blast.

"Juvia, lock him down!" Erza shouted as she descended to the ground, reequipping into her Flight Armor, hoping to use the skimpy armor's speed increase to catch up to her target.

"Right, Juvia is on it! Water Lock!" Juvia screamed, hoping that she had judged Xavier's movements enough to capture him in her spell. The world seemed to slow to a crawl to her as the man twisted out of the way of another one of Natsu's fiery blasts before she summoned the water directly to the left of him. She cheered when Xavier ran smack into the water ball as he dodged another flame blast, slowing down enough for a now recovered Gray to hurl his Ice Spear into the aqua orb, freezing it solid.

"Hey I think we got him!" Lucy said as she sent Loki back to the Celestial Spirit realm, "Way to go Juvia and Gray!" Juvia's cheeks turned a light pink color as Grey nodded.

"That was pretty awesome Juvia, I wasn't sure if we ever could pin that guy down," Gray complimented his teammate, before immediately regretting it as the blue haired water mage let out a high-pitched squeal and all but tackled him, nuzzling her face into his bare chest.

"Oh my beloved Gray, I have pleased you! This is an excellent day! An amazing day!"

"Yeah, yeah it's great. Can you get off of me?" Gray said, voice laden with irritation as he pushed his stalker off of him. Juvia's face fell at that and she quietly stepped away from her crush, looking down at the ground.

"What the hell!? It's over already?!" Natsu yelled as Happy came down and landed on his head, "I wanted to kick his ass!"

"So did I," Gajeel coughed as he got up form the ground, a bit winded from Xavier's attack.

"It doesn't matter, he's caught," Erza said with a bit of pride in her team as she walked up to the frozen orb, the dark mage frozen in he center, still in mid-run, "Levy, get a Script Lock on this, just in case. Then we'll pack these criminals up and collect our reward form the Council.

"On it!" Levy said as she ran up to the iced over ball, "I say we all go out and celebrate after this! Hit up some restaurant in the capital, maybe go dancing and to karaoke!"

"Oh no to that last one! I don't want to hear metalhead over screeching like a dumb parrot while I'm trying to enjoy a good meal!" Natsu said as he pointed a finger accusingly at Gajeel, much to the anger of the Iron Dragon Slayer and the not-so-silent agreement of most of the group.

"You wanna go Salamander?! I'll kick your ass up and down this field numbnuts!" Gajeel screamed back, a vein popping out of his head. The other Fairy Tail members let out a collective groan, tired enough from the actual fight to deal with another pointless spat, as Natsu just grinned and beckoned Gajeel forward.

"Come get me then lugnut!"

Before Gajeel could even take a step forward, there was a cry from Levy as Xavier's frozen prison turned bright white, brighter than the sun, causing the assembled wizards to shield their eyes, before the ice-covered Water Lock exploded.

Natsu let out a cry of surprise as he was blown off his feet before shielding his face as shards of ice flew by at a dangerous speed, yelping out in pain as several embedded themselves in his arms and his torso. Happy tried in vain to hold on to his hair, but the force was to much and the little blue Exceed shrieked as he was blown away from Natsu, crashing into Gajeel's long ebony hair and holding on for dear life.

"Damn that hurts," Natsu groaned as he lowered his arms to survey the damage, grimly noting that there were trickles of blood coming out from where the shards at pierced him. The air was filled with a thick mist, but he could pick out two more forms off to his right that were starting to get up. They looked female and Natsu's nose picked up a familiar scent, one mixed with blood.

'Lucy!" he got up, wincing as he realized that a shard had gone right through his right calve, but gritted his teeth and blocked it out, running over to Lucy's prone form. The blonde was on her side facing away from Natsu, but he could a large piece of ice stuck into her side, blood starting to leak down and pool around her. Feeling his blood go cold, Natsu turned her face towards him, to be met with tear-streaked brown eyes.

"Natsu, get Wendy. Please," came Lucy's plea, her voice soft and weak as she reached a hand out and put it on Natsu's wrist. Natsu felt tears well up in his eyes, but blinked them away.

"Hold on Luce! You're going to be okay!" Natsu said loudly, more panic then he would have liked present in his voice, before yelling as loud as he could, "Wendy! Lucy's hurt real bad! We need help over here!"

Cries of pain went up and Natsu saw that Gray and Erza were also living pincushions, though nowhere near as bad as Lucy. Gajeel had also taken quite a few icicles, though he and Happy seemed okay as they rushed past him, moving like a cheetah. Natsu saw why. Levy, who had been right at the orb, had received the worst of it, more ice shards than flesh and she wasn't moving. Natsu screamed out for Wendy again, gripping Lucy's hand as she started to drift in and out of consciousness.

"Status report!" Erza called out, using her sword to help herself up, "Whose injured?"

"Lucy's hurt!"

"Levy's not breathing!"

"Juvia is fine! Where is Wendy?"

"I'm okay!" came Wendy's reply, "But Carla's hurt! And I can't see anybody through the mist!"

"Wait! There in the center!" came Gray's voice, "Is that?"

Natsu looked in the center as the mist started to dissipate and he felt angry flames rising up inside of him as he looked to Xavier standing in the center where his prison had formerly been. He was soaking wet, staring at his hands before turning and surveying the carnage before his gaze fell on Juvia.

"You there, water mage," he said calmly, as Juvia's eyes widened, "I must say not many could have caught me like you did. Not without sensory enhancing magic. Which I don't sense from you. That is very interesting, it seems like there is more to you than appears."

"Ju-Juvia doesn't know what you're talking about!" Juvia stammered out as she readied a Water Slicer, worried as she started to realize the man didn't have a scratch on him. Xavier ignored her, turning to Erza instead.

"That was an impressive attempt Titania, but like I told you before, I'm not going to the Council. I do apologize for the harm I've caused you," his gaze went to Levy and Lucy, "If you end this engagement I will do my best to heal your wounded, but I will be taking my subordinates and I will be walking free. That is my final offer Titania. Choose wisely."

"Erza don't listen to him," Gray warned as he got into a fighting stance, "He's a dark wizard. The second we stand down, we're done. Get Wendy to heal Levy and Lucy and let's finish this."

"Shut up Gray!" Gajeel snapped back, "If he can heal, let him. Levy's not going to last much longer!"

"And you believe he's going to keep that promise? Fat chance of that!" Gray said as he launched a spear at Xavier, who shot a knock-back spell at it, destroying it.

"Wendy, help Levy and Lucy! Everyone else, bring him down!" Erza screamed as she charged at Xavier.

"Fucking hell," Gajeel sighed before joining them.

Natsu looked down at Lucy, who had slipped into unconsciousness, squeezing her hand as he saw Wendy rushing over to Levy, with a wounded Carla holding on to her back.

"I'll be right back Luce. Just hang on till Wendy gets over here."

Natsu set her hand down before walking slowly over to the growing battle at the center, watching as Erza and Gajeel went berserk in the melee, a flurry of limbs and blades, while Gray and Juvia hung back, taking potshots when opportunities presented themselves. Xavier was currently dodging or blocking every attack, but Natsu could tell that his movements were getting slower, more sluggish. He was getting worn down. Time to finish this.

Letting out a primal roar, Natsu charged directly in to the melee and caught Xavier off-guard, throwing all of his power into a punch directly to the man's face. He was launched backwards into the air, where three Water Slicers hit him in perfect unison, before an Iron Dragon Club slammed into the man's back. Xavier let out a cry of anguish as he fell back down to the earth, where Natsu and Gajeel, overflowing with rage pounced on him immediately. Natsu could feel bones cracking beneath him and it made him happy. This man needed to pay for what he did to Lucy.

"Natsu! Gajeel! That's enough!" Erza's voice startled them both long enough for her to grab them and pull them away from the bleeding and broken dark mage, "The Council wanted him alive. Now get him bound and get him ready to be handed off to the Rune Knights. Wendy, how's Levy and Lucy doing?"

"Okay, I stopped the bleeding and got the shards out of both, but I'm really tired. I might lie down for a bit," came Wendy's exhausted reply. Erza didn't respond, instead staring into Xavier's pale blue eyes, as the man looked up at her while Natsu and Gajeel were busy holding him down while Juvia brought over some rope.

"I hope you rot in prison for the rest of your life Xavier Darkathus. You were a worthy opponent, but you are finished. Fairy Tail's light will always triumph over the darkness," Erza said passionately as she ripped out a tiny ice shard still stuck in her arm, sword raised in the air, before lowering it as Xavier started to laugh, wriggling like a worm beneath Natsu and Gajeel's weight as he chuckled.

"I like the speech, I really do," Xavier said in between bouts of laughter as the members of Fairy Tail glared at him, "I have a soft spot for heroic speeches, the passion, the imagery, the self-righteous conviction. It's very stirring to the spirits and you are right. I am finished. But so are you."

Xavier's eyes glowed an intense blue and pure white aura surrounded him as the sky above turned form blue to black almost instantaneously, thunder cracking like cannon blasts. Juvia yelped as a blast of lightning hit the ground a few feet away from her.

"What's happening?" Gray yelled out as the ground started to shake as Erza, realizing what was about to happen, screamed to Natsu and Gajeel.

"Knock him out now!"

"Dimensional Rift."

A rift tore itself open in the sky, swirling vortex of grey and violet, a sound like the chorus of the dammed howling from it, filling the air with unearthly shrieking. Natsu let go of Xavier as the man started to float upwards and them gravity reversed itself for Natsu too.

"Shit!" he yelled as he tried to grab on to the grass, to no avail.

"Natsu! I can't fly away!" Happy screamed as he flapped his wings as hard as he could

"Happy! Hold on little buddy!" Natsu yelled as he tried his best to grab the little Exceed but the pull from the rift was too strong. Happy's little paws just barely missed Natsu's hands before being sucked up into the rift, screaming Natsu's name. Natsu himself wasn't far behind Happy and neither were his guildmates. Xavier had already disappeared and the other Fairy Tail mages were already entering the rift, screaming as they were swallowed up. Natsu heard his name being called when he was just about to enter the rift, a desperate cry for help.

"Natsu!"

Lucy's voice was the last thing he heard before he entered the howling vortex and the world became a thrashing mess of grey, violet, and the echoes of his friends' screams.


	2. Chapter 2

**So here's chapter two. To the reviewer who pointed out the misspelling of Gray's name, I apologize. It didn't even register to me as I was typing it out. I've gone back and fixed that, along with a couple of typos and grammar issues I noticed in the first chapter upon rereading it.**

 **I've got the first few chapters of this story pretty planned out, so hopefully I should be able to update every other week, though I make no promises, as my work schedule tends to be unforgiving when it comes to making plans. Anyway, hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

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 _Screams and shrieks sounded out into the void, echoing throughout the emptiness. A black sphere circled a swirling maelstrom of color, a massive winged figure floating in front of it, clad in shadow. It watched passively as thousands of strange vessels, of as many different shapes and designs, clashed around it, strange beams of light flashing from each one, explosions following as the beams hit their targets, the space looking like a rainbow of death as the fleets clashed._

 _He felt like he was being pulled toward the chaos, like a moth to a deadly, colorful flame. He floated forward, past burning, shattered hulks, wondering if he should feel fear as the battle continued to rage around him. He felt nothing, nothing but the judgmental gaze of the winged shadow, as he was brought before it and eleven red eyes appeared on what he thought was it's face as a loud, gravelly voice sounded off in his mind._

 _"Interloper, your presence here is a dire portent. The Time of Ending is nigh. All will be judged."_

 _Static filled his mind, a loud shrill tone that made him clutch his head, the pain overloading all of his senses, until a familiar but distorted female voice shot through the noise._

 _"Natsu! Help me!"_

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

Natsu's eyes shot open as he gasped, struggling for a breath. His head was pounding, his vision was blurry, and his body felt like it had been put through a punching machine set to overdrive. He tried to sit up but couldn't. Everything hurt, a dull ache that had his nerves on fire. He was lying on something soft and vaguely slimy. As his breathing stabilized, Natsu tried to remember exactly what had happened.

 _Okay, so we beat that Xylophone guy and Juvia locked him up and then Gray froze him,_ Natsu thought as he tried to focus through the spasms of pain still wracking him, _Then he broke out. We all got hit by icicle shards. Lucy… got hurt. Real bad._ A mix of concern and anger welled up in him as the image of Lucy bleeding on the ground flashed in his mind. _Wendy said she healed her, but she could have died… That bastard is going to pay when I find him._

Natsu was brought out of his thoughts by a several loud chittering sounds and he felt something running up and down on his leg, along with an insistent puling on his right foot. Alarmed, he summoned the strength to sit-up, grunting through the pain as he blinked away the last of the blurriness from his eyes.

He was in some sort of hallway or alleyway, cold grey concrete in front of him, what looked like green trash bins off to his immediate left. There was a light drizzle falling through a few places, the drip-drop sound echoing throughout the alley. There was some pale light coming in from both the left and the right, though most of the alleyway was only dimly-lit. It was most decidedly not the battle-scarred field by the Kannegh Forest that they had been at it just minutes ago. Natsu wasn't sure how much time had passed. That was odd, but not as odd as what was in front of him as his eyes widened.

In front of him were three small insectoid creatures, standing upright on four legs. They were about three feet tall, not much bigger than a child, and looked like the bastard lovechild of a cockroach and a grasshopper, albeit more armored, thick chitin ridges going from their heads down to the tip of the abdomen. They were a dull brown, with large heads with huge black compound eyes the size of a fist, two sets of snapping mandibles, and two long, segmented antenna that were about two feet off of their head that always seem to be twitching. The creatures had what looked like several dirty, multicolored sashes covered with pouches on them and the one furthest away had a small backpack on. They were chittering to each other as the one nearest to Natsu was trying to pull off his right sandal off, it's three-fingered hands clutched around the footwear tightly as it wiggled it out from his toes and it's antenna brushed up and down his pant leg.

"Hey! Get off me you freaks!" Natsu screamed out, his voice hoarse but loud, echoing around the alleyway. The little bug-men trying to pull off Natsu's sandal let out a chitter of alarm and ripped the shoe off, scattering back from Natsu's reach as he tried to swipe at it. The other two let out similar panicky cries and bolted down the alley, following the sandal-thief.

"Hey that's mine! Give it back!" Natsu screamed as he got up, only dimly realizing he had been lying on a pile of trash, and started after the little thieves. He almost tripped as he stumbled forward, his legs feeling like jelly but he grunted and forced himself to move forward as the bug-men disappeared into the light, chittering and clicking to themselves excitedly.

"What the hell! I'm awake for a minute and I'm already being robbed? This is ridiculous!" Natsu said to himself as he ran as fast as he could after the bugs, passing through the light, shutting his eyes momentarily as the light stung him.

He paused and rubbed his eyes, absently noting as he opened them back up that the ice shards that had been embedded in him were gone, with no trace of them ever being present. He then scanned the area to find the dirty thieving bugs only for his mouth to gape open and his eyes to widen to saucers as he took a stunned step back.

"Woah."

Before him, stretching for as far as he could see, was a massive, sprawling city, bigger than any he had ever seen. Buildings that seemed to go on forever climbed into the sky, clouds hanging just above them. There were hundreds of what looked like magicmobiles, only far sleeker and with no wheels, that were flying through the sky at a dizzying place. Natsu even spotted a few things that looked like the Blue Pegasus' airship streaking across the sky, clouds dissipating in their wake. Floating squares flashed with bizarre images and in scripts that Natsu had never even seen before. A light rain that seemed to be petering out covered the whole area in a light mist and a strange white sun hung in the sky, covered by a blanket of clouds.

The streets in front of him were even more weird. Magicmobiles, some wheeled, others floating a few feet off the ground streamed by on a pure black road, small floating signs that changed colors directing the flow of traffic. There were beings everywhere, on the streets, driving the strange machines. There were grey skinned humanoids with bulbous heads and large golden eyes wearing suits and carrying briefcases walking beside stork-looking creatures with four eyes that were eating some sort of fried animal on a stick. There was a diminutive little lizard person on the corner, dressed in black and gold garments and wearing a newsboy cap talking in what sounded like gibberish to Natsu as it waved a small rectangular object with a green light on it, pressing it sometimes and making images and text appear floating in the air in front of it as a small vaguely elephant looking creature stepped up to him and held out a similar device that the little lizard took eagerly. There were hundreds of people on the streets and dozens of different kinds, Natsu even thought he spotted a human or two among them.

 _Gawk later, you need to focus_ , he thought as he forced himself to stop drinking in the sights, _now where did those thieving little bastards get off to?_

He scanned quickly, sniffing the air, though the riot of new scents meant his sense of smell was going to be worthless till he adjusted to the odorous barrage. He used his eyes instead, focusing his draconic vision. He scanned the crowds, feeling the coolness of the drizzle on his skin, looking at waist height.

There, across the street, he saw the three little bug-people hurriedly walking by a large furry creature that had what looked like an ape and a bat's head mixed together that was sipping on a drink, headphones on it's large ears. Natsu grinned and narrowed his eyes.

"Found ya! Give me back my sandal you little thieves!" he yelled as he sped forward, his out burst causing some of the strange beings on the street to turn and look at him as he sped past them straight out into road, focused solely on the bugs, who had noticed his approach and started running. Natsu was forced to jump past as a floating magicmobile looking thing sped past, it's one-eyed, long-snouted driver screaming at Natsu in an alien tongue. The sound of a horn and the squealing of tires made him turn and look to the side, only to see one of the wheeled cars about to slam into him.

"Shit!" Natsu exclaimed as he jumped out of the way, getting prone as another floater zoomed over him. A loud, almost deafening crash sounded out, and he looked back over, seeing that the magicmobile that had tried to stop for him had been rear-ended by another vehicle. Both drivers, a man who looked like a yellow-skinned demon with thick black horns on his head and a red-furred weasel-looking creature were getting out of their cars, yelling incomprehensible words at Natsu, who just let off an embarrassed smile as he got up and continued his journey to the other side of the street.

"Sorry about that! I'm in a hurry!" he shouted back as he pushed his way through the crowds which had turned to see the accident and now followed him with dozens of strange eyes. There were yells and yips in about a dozen different tongues as Natsu shoved his way through the alien crowd, not caring as he homed in on the bugs who were moving across another street, their antenna twitching as their heads swiveled back every few seconds to keep an eye on him.

"Would you little bastards just stop and give my shoe back!" Natsu shouted as he jumped and slid across the hood of stopped car, the tapir-like driver looking shocked and offended as the pink haired Dragon Slayer. He could hear them chitter something back in response, though he couldn't understand a word of it, he got the feeling they were making fun of him.

"Say that again you cockroaches and I'll stomp you!" he screamed as he hit the sidewalk, now only a few strides behind the bugs, who had dropped down on all six legs, scurrying away into a large, domed complex. Natsu slid a little as he turned with them, but followed them through what looked like a market or bazaar. There were wooden and plastic stalls filled with goods that Natsu couldn't even begin to describe everywhere. along with colorful tents, many with smoke coming out of them. Strange creatures and the odd human were manning the stalls or shopping around at their leisure, until the three bugs came scuttling by, followed shortly by an increasingly irritated Natsu.

"Out of the way people!" Natsu shouted as he pushed a moist, pink, vaguely fish looking person out of the way, the alien falling to the ground and dropping it's bags in a gurgle of protest. More yells went out up ahead as the three bug-thieves resumed a quadrupedal running position, ducking under legs and tripping more than a few patrons. Chittering loudly amongst themselves as Natsu continued to gain on them, they leapt through and under a large stall with hung meats around it, manned by very large blue-furred, four-armed ape like creature with a blood-stained apron and a large cleaver, who was busy cooking a slab of meat on a small grill within the stall while chopping up another large cut. The ape let out a roar of surprised anger as the roaches knocked several of his seasonings and cutlets to the floor, only to step back as Natsu tried to dive through the stall as well, only for him to trip on a cobblestone that was slightly higher than the others around it, crashing into the wooden stall with an alarmed yelp, braking through the boards and causing the big white banner above the stall to fall directly on the grill, where it set aflame instantly.

"Ouch," Natsu groaned as he forced himself up, a bloody and cold slab of meat sliding of his bicep, before rubbing his head. He was about to stand up completely when a strong hand grabbed him by the back of his neck and lifted him into the air to the very angry face of the ape. Its jaw protruded out a bit, enough for Natsu to see the very large and sharp canines jutting out from it's lower jaw. Its nose was bulbous, snorting as it bored into Natsu's onyx eyes with narrowed crimson ones, it's four pairs of tube like ears twitching all over the place.

"Hey man, sorry about the stall, but I need to get my sandal back so if you could put me down?" Natsu asked, trying to sound sincere even as he turned his head to catch sight of the bug thieves racing on ahead. His head was forcefully turned back around as the ape screamed at him, jaw smacking together enough for globs of saliva to hit Natsu's face, making him wince in disgust. His ears perked up when he saw the ape's other arm, the one holding the cleaver, raised it and began to swing it at his midsection, even as the market crowd either looked on with silence or continued shopping, ignoring everything that was happening around them.

"Not today monkey man!" Natsu said as he swung his legs into the ape's stomach as hard as he could, winding the creature as it dropped both him and the cleaver, "I'd stay and beat you down, but I got thieves to catch!" With that he continued to run after the bugs, which had gotten a bit further ahead though they were slowed down trying to weave through some sort of small hovering cargo train that was making its way through the market like a caterpillar, it's robotic pilot making beeping sounds from it's oval head as it stopped at various stalls and had the merchants grab items of its hovering wagons. Seeing his chance Natsu ran as hard and fast as he could, leaping over the cargo-pillar just as the bugs had crawled up it and he landed within swiping distance of the last one.

"Gotcha now!" he yelled triumphantly, only for the bug to duck down and scurry away on all six legs, "Goddammit!" The bugs were exiting the market now and were headed for another alleyway a few feet away from this entrance to the market. Natsu growled as he picked up the pace, feeling his muscles starting to protest as he turned the corner, ignoring the stares of more weird looking creatures as he booked it down the alleyway. As he passed a dumpster, startling some sort of slimy looking animal that bolted from his sight, he could see the bugs stopping at the end of the alleyway, where it opened up into a square area surrounded by walls on the sides and a faded green building with a single gray door in the front. Aside from the door in front of him, the only other way in or out was the alleyway he had just come through. Natsu screamed and dove at the one carrying his sandal still, tackling the creature and launching it and himself into the center of dead-end with a startled chirp from it.

"I got you know you little thief!" Natsu laughed as he swiped his sandal out the diminutive creature's claws, "That ought to teach you to take things that don't belong to you!" The bug let out a screech as Natsu put his full weight on it, ignoring how the chitin ridges dug into his skin before grabbing the creature's antenna and giving a light but firm tug, causing the creature to squeal as it tried it's best to crawl out from underneath Natsu, to no avail. The other two bugs backed into the walls as Natsu let off a victorious laugh.

"Oi! Pinky! Get da fuck off Rezzit!" came a loud, smarmy voice as a figure came out of the door directly in front of Natsu. He was a human, young, probably around Natsu's age if not a bit older. His skin was brown and he was covered in crude tattoos, the most prominent one a large purple sun half visible on his chest, and several piercings, most of them easily visible in his ripped up, loose clothing, which was a barrage of ugly yellow and red with torn up and sagging jeans. He had his hands in his pockets and his bulbous nose had a ring with a chain going to a lip piercing and with jet-black hair that was shaved into a buzzcut.

His dark eyes were narrowed at Natsu as he stepped forward and three other figures emerged out of the same doorway, dressed similarly. Two of them were granite-skinned humanoids, with two large bright red fins on their otherwise bald heads and what looked like bony plates on their chins and cheeks, while the last one looked like a bluish humanoid salamander with red feathered gills lining it's neck and black stripes running across its body. They were all glaring at Natsu, who stopped pulling on the bug's antennas and glared back.

"First off, it's salmon, not pink. Second, what the hell is a Rezzit? And third, where the hell are we?" he asked sternly, getting his body ready to spring into action as he tried to ready his magic.

"Rezzit would be the Likili you're sitting on, you twat," the human spat out as his compatriots started to spread out, not coming to close to Natsu but getting into positions where they could all launch at him easily, "And the little bugger works for me. Now get off him. And what kind of fucking stupid question is that? You're in the wrong place, you daft moron."

"What did you call me asshole!?" Natsu yelled as he got up, Rezzit scurrying out from underneath of him and fleeing into the open door, past the human thug, the other two Likili joining him as the alien thugs moved closer to Natsu, ready to cut off his exit at a moment's notice. Natsu growled as his eyes darted between them, feeling both on edge and oddly comfortable. The sights he had seen on the way here confused the living hell out of him, he still had no idea where the hell he was, but a fight. Well he understood fighting.

"I called you a moron," the thug laughed before smiling evilly, "Now we can't tolerate some pink-haired bugger coming around beating on our members and crashing into our turf. It's not the Violet Suns way. So it's time to die fucker." The thug withdrew a large metal handle out of his back pocket and flipped a switch, causing a nasty, serrated metal blade to spring out of it. The knife's blade looked to be about four inches long and Natsu bristled when he saw the other three thugs pull out other weapons, the two fin-headed guys were brandishing similar looking daggers while the salamander man pulled out a wicked looking spiked metal club with electrical sparks bouncing off the metal spikes. Natsu grinned. He had fought worst odds then this a hundred times. Theses clowns didn't even make the list of dangerous fights.

"Bring it on! I'm all fired up now!" Natsu shouted as he tried to summon his magic, "Fire Dragon's-" Natsu doubled over as he vomited everywhere in a great heave, tears welling in his eyes as the thugs took a step back in disgust.

Something was wrong. His magic was going haywire. It had flooded beyond what he could control and the world was getting hazy fast as a crippling nausea, worse than any motion sickness hit him with the force a meteor. He stumbled backwards, heaving again, some blood and fire coming out with his vomit now.

"Well now dat's just bloody disgusting!" the human thug said as he covered his nose, "Not to mention embarrassing for you. Going to be bloody humiliating bleeding to death in your own puke," he laughed after that before motioning to the other thugs, "Let's gank da bastard lads!"

 _Oh shit_ , Natsu thought as he drunkenly sidestepped one of the fin-heads going in for a kidney stab, only to scream in pain as he felt a heavy, spiked object collide into his spine, sending waves of shocking pain up into his brain.

He vomited again and despite feeling like passing out, threw a punch as hard as he could into the blurry visage of the salamander man, feeling the alien's slimy skin on his knuckles as he smashed his fist straight into the one of the creature's golden eyes. The salamander let off a gurgled yell as it was knocked back, clutching its eyes as Natsu rushed past him, letting out a cry as he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

"You ain't getting away dat easy Pinky!" the human thug screamed as he withdrew his knife form Natsu's back, before snarling as the Fire Dragon Slayer shoved his way past one of the fin-heads, running down the alley as fast as he could, vomit and flames still leaking out of his mouth, "After dat little bitch!"

Natsu ran as fast he could, emerging out of the alley, trying to ignore both his nausea and the burning pain in his shoulder, desperately looking for help. There were aliens on the streets and he was attracting a lot of stares but none were moving to help him. Hearing the shouts down the alleyway as the thugs pursued him, Natsu ran, not caring about the direction.

"Help! Somebody help me!" he screamed to the crowds as he ran past, the strange beings and odd human hurriedly parting as he ran through. He could the shouts of the thugs as they shoved their way through the crowds, hungry for his blood. He tried to draw upon his magic again and immediately regretted it as vomit and flames came out, nearly catching a flying, child-sized butterfly-like creature on fire as he squealed and darted out of his way. He felt weak and extremely dizzy, the world a spinning blur of colors and shapes.

"There he is! Stop running Pinky! Face ya death like a man!" the tattooed human yelled at him as he shoved one of the big-headed gray-skinned aliens out of the way, blood-stained knife in his hand.

 _Shit, I need help_ , Natsu thought desperately, _or a place to hide. I can't fight like this. I can barely stand right now._ He stumbled down the street, not caring what or who he ran into, only that he made his legs pump as hard as he could. He wasn't sure how far or how long he ran for when, as he crossed streets and ducked into alleys, still not shaking the thugs, before he ran into a large circular building with an open roof and a strange, long metal ship in it, surrounded by blurry figures.

"Please help me!" Natsu choked out before collapsing on the floor, the strength leaving his legs as he hit cold concrete.

 _It can't end like this_ , he thought dejectedly, _dying on a floor to a bunch of punks with knifes. I never got to tell Lucy… never got to tell her how I felt._ His thought stopped cold as he heard the shuts of the thugs and he tried to get up, his arms shaking before he collapsed to the ground once more.

"There you are, ya pink-haired rat," the human thug sneered, "You're going to be a warning to all who would mess with da Violet Suns."

"I don't think so," came a deep male voice, in a tone laced with steel. Natsu brought his head up and saw that the five figures around the ship were approaching him and the lead one looked like he was a human male, probably in his late forties, black hair flecked with patches of silver. He was dressed in an ebony leather duster, with a visible holster on his hip.

"Da fuck did you say to me spacer? This is Violet Suns business. Back off," the thug said as he gripped his knife tight, the other ones letting off similar sounding agreements in alien tongues. Natsu was struggling to hold on to consciousness but he could see that the group in front of him had at least two other humans in it, another man with bright red unruly hair and woman with an eye-patch and jet-black hair done up in a pinned bun. The other two figures were aliens, one that looked like a humanoid lizard and the other a floating octopus with twelve tentacles writhing beneath it. They were all drawing what looked like guns, pointing them straight at the thugs.

"I said I don't think so. You're not killing this boy, not in my hangar. Now you and the other guttersnipe trash with you better beat it, before I get angry," the lead human man said again, hand gripping the pistol in his holster.

"I'd listen to the man little boy," the eye-patched woman said dryly, pointing a heavy looking pistol at the human thug, "Dekklin gets unpleasant when he's upset." The thugs looked hesitant as five guns were staring them down, before the human one opened his mouth again.

"We're Violet Suns, you can't tell us-" he was interrupted as the dark-haired human male drew his pistol in a blink of an eye and fired it, the snub-nosed weapon barking as the sound echoed throughout the hangar and one of the fin-heads next to the thug collapsed in a howl of agony, holding his knee as crimson liquid started to seep out of it.

"Last chance. Get the fuck out of my hangar or I'll throw your corpses out," the man said as he the pointed the pistol straight at the human thug's face, smoke still wafting out of its barrel. The thug was trembling now, as he lowered his knife and started backing away.

"Lads get Jargoth up and out of here, this ain't worth dying over," he said as the other two thugs went and lifted the howling fin-head up and started dragging him out of the hangar, before he looked down at Natsu, "You got lucky Pinky. We catch you out on the streets again, you're a fucking dead man. You hear me?"

Natsu was barely consciousness at this point, but he could hear footsteps coming near him.

"Isanada above, he looks rough. Should we help him?" a male voice asked.

"His health isn't our issue. Toss him outside and call an ambulance," a stronger voice, the leader said.

"So what, we drove off the Suns to just let him die on the street outside? Dekklin we can't do that," came the female voice along with a gurgled, wet sounding reply.

"You want to take in a stray Lynn, be my guest. But he's your responsibility and his care comes out of your funds, not the crews'," the leader replied again as Natsu closed his eyes, feeling his strength draining away.

"Understood," the woman's voice replied back coolly, "Choxin get the med-bay ready. Vern, you want to give me a hand?"

Natsu felt himself being picked up and carried as voices continued to speak around him, but soon he drifted off, thinking only of Lucy as the world went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**I wasn't expecting to to update again this week and this chapter gave me a couple of issues, but I managed to get it done and cleaned up enough to where I feel okay posting it. This is the one of the last of the set-up chapters (at least for you readers. I need to get to Chapter 10 to start writing what originally made me want to write this fic out in the first place.) But anyways I hope you enjoy and feel free to leave a review.**

 **EtherealTulip: Glad you're liking it so far!**

 **Firelover11: Thanks! And stick around, he just might!**

* * *

 _"Natsu! Help me! Please!" Lucy screamed as shining winged golden figures drug her away from Natsu's outstretched hand before ripping her apart in front of him. He tried to scream, only for nothing to come out as he stood frozen, unable to move. Everything was being destroyed in front of him. Millions of different beings were being slaughtered, ripped apart, burned alive, tortured by blindingly golden beings, brimming with malevolent intent._

 _He saw his other friends being tormented as well. Happy locked into a shining cage, his wings ripped off, bleeding on the ground next to him. Gray having his skin peeled off, screaming wordlessly into the red sky as Erza's corpse, impaled on a thousand blades, writhed in constant unliving agony. Natsu tried to stop looking, tears streaming down as he felt cold hands grab his shoulders and he tried to scream, words finally coming out._

 _"No! No! Get off me!"_

* * *

 ** _Haven City, Planet Haven, Mallgar System, Mid Rim, Haven Republic, Edge Space_**

"Hey! Hey! Take it easy kid! We're not going to hurt you!"

Natsu shot forward, eyes wide and pupils dilated, still swinging his arms as he took several gasps of air. His senses kicked into overdrive, quickly assessing everything in the room as he scanned for threats. He was lying in small rectangular room, about twelve feet long, maybe eight across. The walls were a faded grey and lined with cabinets and strange looking stations, though Natsu did see a sink off to the far wall. The room was illuminated by four bright white light panels in the ceiling, bathing the room in a sterile white candescence. There was a solid door, smelled like steel, in the far right corner of the room, barely visible from his position, currently closed.

He was lying in a bed, covered in a pale white sheet, a pair of thin long plastic tubes going from a metal cylinder by his bed, filled with fluids, into a vein on his right arm. His clothes were gone, instead he was wearing some sort of gown, like he had seen on the gravely injured before. He realized his scarf was missing and he couldn't see it anywhere, couldn't smell it. A wave of anxiety washed over him. He needed that scarf back.

"Hey kid, can you hear me?" A cool female voice drew him out of his momentary panic and his tunnel vision cleared. It was the woman from before, the one with the eyepatch. She was leaning over his bed, one hand on the railing and another being withdrawn back as her visible blue eye regarded him with a mixture of both concern and wariness. She looked to be in her mid-to late thirties, dressed in a matching black turtleneck and sweat pants with a silver necklace with a purple crystal hanging form it's chain, skin pale and with numerous small scars across what would have otherwise been a flawless face. A wet, sloshing noise made his head to turn to the left in an instant.

Off to his left was the floating octopus-like alien, though with his vision no longer blurry, he could see that the creature, whose skin seemed to constantly shift colors, was dressed in a cloth ring that went around the front of its face, a bevy of small pouches and holsters attached along the ring. Its large orange eyes were staring at him as one of its many tentacles rested in an open pouch. He looked away form it for the moment as his nerves calmed somewhat and turned back to the woman.

"Yeah, I can hear you," he replied, a bit more curtly than he intended, "Where the hell am I? Who are you people? Where's my clothes at?"

"You're in the med-bay of the _Albatross_ , our ship. We fixed you up. We're not your enemies," she said, stressing the last sentence, "My name is Lynn. The good doctor here is Choxin. Can you tell me your name?"

"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel," Natsu said as he scratched at the tubes in his arm, trying his best to get a read on the woman, "Thanks for healing me. I probably wouldn't have made it otherwise."

"Well you're welcome, but I didn't fix you up. That would be Choxin there," Lynn said as she pointed at the floating octopus, apparently named Choxin. Choxin let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a gurgle and a bubblegum pop and Lynn let off a small laugh. Natsu frowned before speaking up.

"Okay, how the hell do you know what he's saying? Why is nobody but the humans here speaking Fiorian?" Natsu asked crossly, not liking feeling out of the loop, especially when he didn't trust these people fully yet. Lynn looked annoyed at his tone before understanding flashed across her face.

"Oh yeah we noticed during your scans that you don't have your translator. Did you lose yours somewhere?" she asked before scrunching up her face, "Uh kid, what the hell is Fiorian? We're all speaking Mekartan. You're speaking Mekartan."

Natsu was silent for a moment, processing that information, before he spoke again, "I'm going to ask you a really weird question. What world am I on right now?"

Lynn looked at him strangely, wondering if the boy had head trauma they had missed in the scan. "You're on Haven." A blank stare was her response. "You know, the grand gateway into Edge Space, where anything can be bought and sold without the Empire breathing down your neck?"

"The Empire? Edge Space? None of that means anything to me. I'm from Earthland. Does that mean anything to you?" Natsu asked, getting the unsettling feeling in his stomach, "Fiore? Fairy Tail? Any of that mean anything to you?"

 _How the hell does this kid not know what Edge Space is, let alone the Empire_? Lynn thought incredulously, _And now he's spewing nonsense. Shit he might really have brain damage_.

"No, I'm afraid not," the dark-haired woman said, though her tone sounded patronizing to Natsu, "I've been from one corner of the Empire to the other and visited all the important shitholes in the Edge. Never heard of an Earthland or any of the other things you mentioned. Sorry."

Natsu went to open his mouth in response but a deep rumbling from his stomach interrupted his thought patterns as he became acutely aware of how ravenous he was. It felt like he hadn't eaten in days. Lynn let off a light chuckle as Natsu looked a bit sheepish.

"How about we continue this discussion over lunch? You have to be starving, you've been out of it for two days," Lynn said as she motioned for Choxin to come over, "Before you go though let's get a translator hooked up to you, so you aren't gawking everytime somebody speaks something that isn't in Mekartan and we'll get your IV's out."

"I've been out for two days?" Natsu said in disbelief, before wincing as Choxin disconnected the tubes from his arm.

"You were pretty banged up," Lynn admitted, "Now as for your old clothes, we had to throw everything out. It was covered in garbage, blood, vomit, and scorch marks. We've got some old spares for you to wear till you can get some new ones." Natsu's eyes widened and he shot out of the bed, making Lynn take a cautious step back.

"My scarf! That was from my dad! Where is it? Don't tell me you threw it out to?!" he said as he grabbed Lynn by the shoulders, a mix of anger and worry in his tone. Lynn's hand went to her pistol holster before thinking twice and instead gently pried Natsu's hands off.

"Don't worry kid, we saved the scarf and those tacky as hell wooden sandals of yours. They were about the only things that weren't too gross to handle. We'll give them back after we get some food in you, so just chill out for a bit," her voice was gentle but stern and Natsu calmed a bit, the knowledge that his scarf was safe soothing his nerves. "Now hold still, we're going to implant your translator. This will sting for a second."

"Sounds good to- Oww!" Nastu yelped as Choxin floated up behind him and with machine like precision, placed a small black rectangle, barely a centimeter across, behind Natsu's right ear, "Dammit that stung!"

Lynn left off a small smirk as brushed a stray hair out of her face, "Price you have to pay to understand anybody. Now let's see if it's working. We've had that spare lying around for a couple of years, it might be a little glitchy. Choxin, start introducing yourself."

Natsu turned and faced the cephalopodic alien, who began to speak at him. At first it was the same wet sounding gibberish Natsu had heard before but then there was a brief hum that vibrated throughout his brain and Choxin became clear. Sort of.

"I Choxin. Meet you, good fellow. Did understand that?" the alien asked as it pointed a tentacle towards itself, it's voice slow and distorted, almost like Natsu was underwater trying to listen to someone just above him.

"Uh sort of? Is he supposed to speak broken Fiorian and sound like he's talking through a pipe?" Natsu asked as he scratched at the translator, uncomfortable with how the box had buried itself into his skin.

"Hold on, must be a bug in the cochlear matrix, give me a sec." Lynn said as she dug out a small rectangular device with a black screen out of the cabinet behind her, before drawing a circle with her finger in the middle of it, causing the black screen to turn a muted white as it flashed to life. Natsu watched with some interest as she swiped through several screens on it before a holographic keyboard sprang up into the air above the rectangle, where she typed a dizzying amount of characters and numerals into it. Natsu felt his mind hum again when she stopped typing.

"Okay, that should have fixed it. Choxin, say something to the kid," Lynn said as she canceled out the holo-board, making the shimmering projection dissipate as Natsu turned his attention back to the floating alien.

"I say, it is an utmost pleasure to meet you my good fellow," Choxin's voice still had a wet quality to it, but it was not at all what Natsu had expected. Instead of something creepy sounding, the alien's voice was melodic, sophisticated, like a wealthy aristocrat back home would sound, "My name is Doctor Choxinenexchelazgula, though you may call me Choxin for short, as you mammals have a rather difficult time trying to pronounce my full name. Did you understand of that or do I sound like an incomprehensible bore?"

"Hey! I understood all of that!" Natsu said excitedly as he grabbed one of Choxin's tentacles,, shaking it up and down, ignoring the clamminess of the alien's smooth skin "You don't sound like a deep sea monster anymore!"

"Deep sea monster? That sounds positively dreadful," Choxin said, shocked, as Natsu continued to shake is tentacle, "Is that what we sound like to everyone without a translation device? Monstrous?"

"No, you sound like an overeducated pansy Choxin, "Lynn laughed as she put the rectangle away into the cabinet, "Anyways, sounds like your translator is synching just fine now. Let's get you some food and introduce you to the rest of the crew. Wait here and I'll bring you a change of clothes and that scarf you were going on about."

Natsu's stomach growled ominously and he gave sheepish smile as Lynn waved her hand over a panel next to the door, the heavy steel contraption sliding upwards in the blink of an eye. "Better make it quick or I might have to turn your doctor into calamari!" he joked, chuckling a bit to himself as Choxin brought up a tentacle to his face, his skin turning a anxious blue shade.

"Calamari? Why does that term sound so distressingly familiar?"

* * *

Natsu was what many would call a glutton. A pig, a disgusting devourer of anything you put in front of him. He supposed that was a fair assessment, though in his defense, being a Dragon Slayer meant he needed extra calories just to fuel his draconic-enhanced body, let alone the basic energy for his magic. He was perpetually hungry. Even more so now, having gone at least two days without food. So the amazed and slightly disgusted looks the people in front of him were giving him didn't bother him at all as he shoved protein bar after protein bar into his mouth. He needed to eat after all.

After Lynn had come back with a spare set of clothes, which was an old pair of jeans and a faded, slightly oiled stained blue tee shirt, along with his scarf and sandals, she had escorted him down a small hallway into another room, saying the rest of the crew was eager to meet him.

He was in a large circular room that seemed to be the ship's combination commons room and kitchen. There were a few stained chairs and a well-worn red couch, the faux leather on it cracking off, seated in the left side of the room with a what looked like a vision-lacrima seated on a stand there for the those relaxing on the couch or chairs to view. The right side had a small kitchen, looking well-worn like everything else Natsu had seen on the ship, though it looked adequate to him, with a preparation counter, a pantry cabinet, refrigerator and freezer combo and a decent sized stove. The whole room was dimly lit by more light panels on the ceiling, though these werea muted yellow instead of the med-bay's sterile white.

In the center of the room was a large round table with several leather-topped stools placed around it, where Natsu and five others were currently sitting, with several glasses full of water and other stranger-tasting liquids, along with a large collection of protein bars, snack cakes, crackers, and other forms of small packaged food. Lynn had apologized for the "spacer food" as they hadn't had time to pick up groceries to make meals yet but Natsu didn't care. Food was food.

The red headed man and the lizard looked stunned at the amount Natsu was putting away, while Lynn regarded the scene with amusement as Choxin had a datapad out, typing away furiously, with two tentacles while a third brought up snack cakes underneath to his beaked mouth. Only the older human man, the one Natsu remembered as having shot one of the thugs, looked annoyed with him, regarding Natsu with open contempt.

"Well, Natsu, if you could take a moment to breathe, we can get introductions out of the way," Lynn said as Natsu paused mid-bite, half a cracker sticking out of his mouth, "I suppose I'll go first. I'm Lynn, ship's quartermaster and co-pilot."

"Dr. Choxin, Karswaorth graduate and the _Albatross'_ Chief Medical Officer," Choxin said proudly next. The red headed man, who looked to be a bit older than Natsu but not by much, raised his hand and pointed to himself while slinging his free arm around the reptilian next to him.

"I'm Vernon Brogue, though you just call me Vern," he said with a cheeky smile, "I'm the Albatross' mechanic and resident badass." Natsu, always up to sparring, sized Vernon up. He was fit, though he lacked the muscle mass that Natsu had. He wasn't wearing any armor like either, just a muted yellow hoodie with a black splatter pattern on it and a pair of ripped up jeans. He did have a pistol holster on his right hip though. Natsu was confident he could take the guy on it if it came down to it but he was brought out of his thoughts by the green scaly reptilian alien next to Vern snorting before replying a smooth voice.

"Badass my tail. You woke me up this morning because there was a carbo-crawler on the floor next to your bed and I had to go smash it because spirits forbid you go near a bug without screaming like an hatchling."

"Hey! That's different man, crawlers are no joke!" Vern replied defensively, "And I would have smashed him myself, but he the upper hand and caught me by surprise is all!" The lizard-like alien snorted again, before turning to Natsu.

"Names Wresgar Mu'Dok, though everyone just calls me Wres. I'm ship security and the guy you want to talk to if you want to know all the good bars to go to in any port in the Edge." Wres was about as tall as the average human, with dark green scaly skin and silted grey eyes and a saurian head with small horned protrusions coming out of his chin and where his eyebrows would be on a human. From what Natsu could see, he had trimmed, but still very sharp looking claws on his four fingered hands. Wres was dressed warmly, a brown, fur-lined jacket on with thick heavy camo fatigue pants on, and what looked like thick black combat boots. There was a slot for his long, ridged tail to come out of in the back of his pants as well. Natsu did note that he had two holsters, one on each hip, weapons still currently in them.

 _Come to think of it, it is pretty cold in here_ , Natsu thought absently as he swallowed what was left of his cracker _, but I'm not really feeling it. Hopefully that means my magic is working again_. He was brought out of his reverie when his advanced hearing picked up the center man, the older one with the black leather duster and the salt and pepper hair, inhale quickly before speaking in a deep, powerful voice.

"Dekklin. Captain and owner of the Albatross," the man said curtly, "Now that this nonsense is out of the way, tell me. Who the hell are you? Why did you have Violet Suns chasing you? And what," he pointed towards Natsu's guild mark, "Does that tattoo mean?"

"Isanada above Dekklin, this isn't an interrogation," Lynn snapped, crossing her arms, "The kid only just woke up twenty minutes ago. Let him adjust a bit." Dekklin fixed her with a cold stare, dark brown eyes boring into her blue one.

"He's an unknown variable that didn't have a translator and he isn't showing up on any records. I want to know exactly who it is that I let you drag onto my ship," he replied coldy before turning his stern visage towards Natsu, "Well, I'm waiting kid."

Natsu frowned, not liking the judgmental look but partially understanding the man's caution as well.

"Alright, I'll tell you what you want to know, but I need some questions answered after I do. That sound like a deal?" he replied, holding out his hand over the table, where Dekklin stared at it for a moment before taking it.

"Deal. You first though," the older man replied as he took a sip from a steaming hot drink next to him, the other crew inching closer to hear Natsu speak.

"Well like I already told Lynn and Dr. Choxin there, my name is Natsu Dragneel. I'm a member of Fairy Tail ," he said proudly as the others gave him looks of confusion.

"Fairy Tail? Like a children's story?" Vern questioned as he pulled out his own datapad from his hoodies front pocket.

"No, not like a story! It's my guild!" Natsu said indignantly, "And this!" he pointed towards his mark, "Is their symbol!"

"Ah a guild you say," Choxin interjected, "Might I ask as to what their primary purpose as a guild is? Especially with such an… odd choice of name." Natsu chose to ignore that comment as he replied back to the floating alien.

"It's a wizard's guild! And it's the strongest one in all of Fiore!" he said proudly, holding his fist in the air as the crew shared uneasy looks.

"Wizard? As in a mage?" Wres asked, his tone suddenly apprehensive. Natsu went to answer him but Lynn beat him to it.

"Yeah the kid is one guys, our medical scans picked up the mana within him. You wanna give us a little demonstration kid? Nothing to flashy, just something to confirm the data," she asked as Vern and Wres got up from their seats, looking a bit nervous. Natsu gave everyone an uneasy grin as he tried to focus on his magic, the familiar warmth flooding him.

 _I really hope it doesn't mess up like it did before,_ he thought nervously, _let's just try something small, to be on the safe side._ He focused his energy, letting his emotions slowly take control and he felt his magic answering his call, this time in a much more controlled manner. He lit his right fist on fire, which made Vern and Wres wince and caused Dekklin to scowl at him.

"I'm a fire mage, a Fire Dragon Slayer to be specific," Natsu said proudly as he extinguished his fist, "My magic wasn't working right the other day though. It's the only reason those Purple Sun guys were able to get the jump on me, otherwise I would have kicked their asses up and down that alley."

"Rouge unregistered mage I believe. But a Fire Dragon Slayer," Dekklin said disbelievingly, "Now I know you're just making shit up."

"It's true!" Natsu said as he got up and slammed his fist on the table. "I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer and one of Fairy Tail's top mages!" Dekklin's hand was already going to his pistol when Lynn grabbed his arm.

"Dekklin," she said sternly and the man's arm relaxed before she turned to Natsu, "Alright calm it down pyro, we believe you. Why did you have the Violet Suns after you to begin with?"

"One of their little bug guys stole my sandal, so I chased him to their hideout and got it back," Natsu said simply, "Then they all came out, my magic went haywire and then I got stabbed and clubbed a few times. Then I wound up here. Does that answer your questions?"

"Not all of them, but that'll do for now," Dekklin said as Lynn withdrew form his arm, "Now you have some of your own to ask I take it?"

"I do. First off, where am I? You guys keep throwing names like Haven, the Edge, and the Empire around like I'm supposed to know what that means," Natsu said, already having a sinking feeling he knew the answer to that question. Vern and Wres, who had returned to the table, looked confused at his question.

"Wait, how do you not know what any of those are? Where are you from that you've never heard of the Empire?" Vern asked, bewildered that anyone could grow up and not know even the basics of the galaxy. Natsu sighed.

"I'm from a place called Earthland, which I think is in a different dimension then the one I'm in now. That bastard Xlyophone sucked us all into a rift and I think this where I ended up," Natsu said, frustration evident in his tone as everyone around him, even Lynn and Choxin, looked at him like he was a mental ward escapee.

"Different dimensions huh," Vern said skeptically, "What did like an evil wizard banish you here or something? Got sucked into a big swirling vortex of doom and then fell out of the sky into our dimension?"

"Yeah that's exactly what happened. Me and my friends were hired to bring in this dark wizard and we managed to beat him, but he opened a big portal that sucked us all in after we had him dead to rights, " Natsu said factually, not realizing how he sounded, "I don't remember falling, but it makes sense. I woke up in an alleyway on a pile of trash."

"Right," Dekklin said contemptuously, "Choxin you sure there wasn't brain damage in that scan of yours?"

"No, we were very thorough Captain," Choxin said as he double-checked the medical scans on his datapad, "We detected no signs of traumatic or even minor brain damage."

"I'm telling the truth," Natsu said irritably, "Why would I lie about this? And I wasn't the only one who got sucked in. I had friends with me. I'm sure they ended up here too. They could vouch for me."

"Hey guys check this out," Vern said as he brought his datapad on to the table, "He's definitely telling the truth about falling out of the sky. Some vlogger caught him falling into that alley he was talking about, not too far from the bazaar." Vern hit a button in the center and everyone gathered around as Natsu saw himself simply appear from the clouds, falling rapidly before disappearing into the alley below. The audio wasn't very good as the he nasal tone of the vlogger laughing at his apparent misfortune drowned out any other sound, which made Natsu grit his teeth, wanting to find the guy and punch him out. However, his irritation, quickly turned to hope as an idea popped into his mind

"Hey, can you check to see if anyone else fell out of the sky around here? Maybe my friends are somewhere around here too!" Natsu said excitedly, the thought of seeing Happy and Lucy again brightening his mood. His smile disappeared when Vern shook his head after a minute of searching.

"Sorry man, the only other person mentioned or recorded falling out of the sky on Haven other than you was over a month ago and it was just a drunk Schookla businessman falling out of a taxi," Vern said apologetically as Natsu's face fell, "But hey we'll keep an ear and eye out for anything while we're out."

"So, let's say I fully believe you," Dekklin said suspiciously, reentering the conversation, "Which I don't. From what I've gathered, you arrived here without any money, knowledge, or even belongings other than the clothes on your back?" Natsu nodded his head in agreement. "And there's more of you somewhere? That came through with you. Any in particular we should keep an eye out for? These extra-dimensional people." Dekklin didn't even bother to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

Natsu thought hard about that statement. He loved all of his friends and teammates, but he definitely loved some more than others.

"Yeah there's a girl. Lucy. A total weirdo and nerd, but super smart and talented _." Absolutely beautiful too_ , he thought wistfully as images of chocolate-covered eyes and warm smiles filled his mind before he came back to the real world. "She's pretty easy to pick out, just look for the blonde who's yelling a lot," he chuckled as memories of Lucy played through his mind. Gods did he miss her.

"Oh, a girl you say," Vern leaned over the table, his equally red and bushy eyebrows wiggling, "She sounds hot. She your lady or something?"

Natsu frowned as unspoken words and feelings flashed through his mind, but he put them aside for now. "No, she's just a friend. One of my best actually along with Happy."

"The hell kind of a name is Happy?" Wres asked, "You humans are really strange with your names at times."

"Happy isn't a human, he's an Exceed!" Natsu retorted back, "And I've known him since before he as born, since I hatched his egg. He's always been my little buddy."

"That sounds sweet," Lynn said, "An Exceed. I'm not familiar with that species. What's he look like? Just in case we run into him?"

"Well he's only about two feet tall and he's a blue talking cat that can fly sometimes, Natsu said with a smile that quickly disappeared as the others stared at him.

"Well it's not the weirdest thing you've said in the last five minutes," Lynn deadpanned, "A blue talking cat. If he did land here, I'm willing to bet he'd be taken into a pet shop and passed off as some new exotic pet that can mimic speech. Cheaper than getting slave permits, especially if you don't know the species. Of course, that's assuming he wasn't just sold as meat in a market here. The vendors here are always creative with what ends up on the grill." Upon seeing Natsu's face turn into a panicky expression, she held out a hand in front of her before saying in an apologetic voice. "Hey that's not guaranteed, I'm sure your friend is fine!"

There was silence for a minute as Natsu sighed before looking at everyone in turn. "It's looking like I'm going to be stuck here for a bit until I can find my friends and figure out a way back home. But in the meantime, you guys saved me, and I owe you. A Fairy Tail wizard always repays their debts."

"I like your attitude kid," Lynn said, "Because you do owe me. Five thousand crysti-chips to be exact."

"As much as I'd like to pay you back right now, I don't exactly have any money," Natsu said rubbing the back of his head. Lynn gave him an understanding look.

"I know that, which is why from this moment on, you are a debt-bound employee of the Albatross Company until your debt has been paid in full."

"Which means?" Natsu asked, "Sounds like I can't leave here till I get fully paid up. I need to find my friends."

"I know, but I spent a lot of money bringing you back from the dead. I'll just have you do odd jobs until I figure you're paid up," Lynn said, "You can sleep here at the Albatross and as long as you promise to not always eat like you've done today, I wont add food costs to that debt. That sound fair to you Dekklin?"

"He's your stray Lynn. Just make sure he doesn't break anything," Dekklin said as he got up and left the common room, taking his still steaming drink with him.

"I don't get a say in this?" Natsu asked, incensed that she had talked over him

"No, you don't, but you should be paid up in no time," Lynn said, "Believe me, I don't want to have to keep you around any longer than I have to, especially if your itching to find your friends."

"We'll I guess it's only fair," Natsu said, "What do you need me to do?"

"Right now? Vern and Wres are going to take you into the city and get you some decent clothes, no charge to the debt," Lynn said while pointedly looking at the two men in question, "After that I'll get some work lined up for you to start working off that five grand."

"Well you hear that buddy?" Vern asked cheerfully as he got up and slung an arm around Natsu's shoulders, "We get to help you pick out some new threads. And you can tell us more about these friends of yours, especially the hot single ones."

"I'll keep them out of trouble Lynn. I'll try and make sure Vern doesn't dress him like a moron" Wres said, shaking his head as Vern grabbed Natsu and started leading him out of the Albatross, Wres quickly following behind.

 _Well maybe this won't be all bad_ , Natsu thought as he was lead out form the ship's landing ramp and into the hangar he had been bleeding out in only two days before _, these people did save me. I owe it to them to pay them back as best I can. But I need to start looking for my friends, Happy and Lucy are out there somewhere. And I will find them, even if it's the last thing that I do._

* * *

Lynn watched the leaving forms of Natsu, Vern, and Wres with a cold smile as Dekklin came back into the commons and tossed his mug into the sink as Choxin floated closer to her.

"Well Lynn, what's the real intel on that kid?" Dekklin asked as he turned to face her, a frown on his face. Lynn grimaced.

"There's no intel. I ran that tattoo through every system in the Edge and even a couple Imperial ones. I got nothing. No gang, agency, spec ops unit or mage group is using that symbol and Choxin found something worse."

"Indeed", the Glokkin doctor said morbidly, "The full medical scans I ran on him shows that he has a large amount of unknown DNA bonded with his normal human genetics. The DNA markers test positive for features common in reptiles and it's changed his physiology.

"Which means?" Dekklin asked, not liking where this conversation was going.

"That he isn't entirely human Captain," Choxin said, skin scintillating through several emotional shades, "I can only hypothesize at his capabilities with the ship's equipment, but he appears to have enhanced senses, far greater than any normal unmodified human and his mana stream appears to be inexplicably linked to this foreign DNA. It does not appear to be a natural mutation either, so it is only logical to assume that he was engineered and modified to be how he is now. To do so would take significant expertise and resources that the governments and races in Edge Space simply do not have. Nor do I believe that any would have the inclination to carry out such a bizarre project."

"Which means this reeks of Imperial involvement," Lynn said, "I think he might have escaped a lab somewhere in the Empire and hitched a ride out to here. Or maybe the research ship he was on passed above Haven and he took the chance to bug out." Lynn crossed her arms, studying the floor before sighing, "I think he made up the whole story of being a wizard from another dimension as his way of coping with what happened to hm. Those two days he was out, his REM activity was consistent with the type that people have when they're having bad nightmares. Hell, the only reason I woke him up just now was because he was thrashing around. He even tried to take a swing at me when he woke up."

"Shit," Dekklin said softly, "Poor bastard probably has all kinds of PTSD."

"Which is why I say we just take the kid on full-time," Lynn said as she looked at Dekklin, "Poor bastard probably has nowhere else to go."

Dekklin shook his head. "No, once that kid earns back your money he's gone. I'm not keeping some Archmagister's pet lab rat on my ship just in case the Magisterium decides to come back for it's property. Is that understood Lynn? And you two better keep this to yourselves, the last thing I need is Vern or Wres getting drunk and blabbing about the escaped Imperial freak show we're taking care of here."

Choxin flashed a combination of green and brown, his species' colors for submission, while Lynn glared at him before resigning herself to defeat, "Understood. Hopefully the kid can figure out a plan when that happens. Nobody deserves to be an Imperial plaything."

* * *

 **Excepts from the Encylopedias Imperialis, the galaxy's largest, most trusted, and most unbiased source of information.**

 **Region, Edge Space:** _While the noble and powerful United Galactic Empire spans most of the known galaxy, there are areas of space that are not yet under Imperial rule. While most of this consists of unexplored space, the Western Fringe is home to the anarchic and wild area known as Edge Space or simply the Edge. Originally named by the Imperial statesman Ozorg vul'Kress as the "edge of civilization, a barbaric place where murderers and tyrants put on a pale, brutal imitation of true high society" those living in the Edge took the name as a compliment and the region has been known as Edge Space ever since. Unlike the Empire, Edge Space is not a united entity, instead consisting of dozen large star nations and hundreds of singe system-states, along with countless more areas that have no formal governance. The Edge is a war wracked, crime infested quagmire, where wars are frequent and all manner of unsavory trades are plied in the open as greedy souls seek to profit from even the most heinous businesses. Despite this, the Edge is filled with many former Imperial citizens, renegades and malcontents all of them, who have mingled with the Edge's native races well. Travel to the Edge is ill-advised, as it boasts the highest murder and piracy rates per capita of any area of space. The traitors and rebels of the Resistance often use the Edge as base of operations and recruitment center, making it even more undesirable for Imperial citizens to travel to._

 **Planet, Haven:** _Haven is the fourth planet in the Mallgar System, a blue-green world covered in forests and swamps, home to a simple ecosystem of amphibians and arthropods, along with several sprawling cities. Haven is a part of Edge Space and thanks to it's position on the border of the Western Fringe and the Imperial Inner Provinces, is often referred to as the Gateway to the Edge. Haven is a bustling trade hub, where goods form all over Edge Space can be found, along with superior quality Imperial merchandise, often procured illegally. It is unknown when the world was first settled or even discovered, as it ha been home to every race in the Edge and the Empire for as long as anyone bothers to remember. The planet is run by the Haven Republic, a self-proclaimed democracy that is in reality, a gathering of criminal syndicates that run the system. There are few laws on Haven and those that do exist are more geared towards the Republic getting it's cut of any business deals and industries than anything, with the Republic only putting enough funds into a police force and public utilities to keep the planet functioning. Though it is only a single system-state, Haven has a dizzying number of defensive pacts with hundreds of powers, many who are openly hostile to one another. As Haven has integrated itself into the core of the Edge economy, as well as regrettably having a large influence over the nearby Inner Provinces, the world is rarely attacked and thus spends little on defense._

 **Species, Likili:** _The Likili are a roughly meter tall race of insectoids from the tropical world of Qozenl in the Mid Rim, with armored exoskeletons and quick reflexes. The Likili are organized into caste-based hive-states on their homeworld and colonies, though this is a cultural development rather than a biological one, as all Likili are fully sapient and able to reproduce with one another, unlike a truly eusocial race. As a race they are highly skilled at dexterous work and an assembly line of Likili can assemble just about anything only a few seconds slower than robotic workers. The Likili competed with one another fiercely before achieving spaceflight and discovering the Jump Drive around fourteen hundred years ago. Though their homeworld and colony worlds were long ago absorbed into the Empire, where they now provide the Imperial Throne with billions of skilled and unskilled workers to assemble Imperial products and war machines, many Likili have made their way into Edge Space, where they often live in the underclass of most Edge societies, making a poor and often short living as thieves, burglars, janitors, and panhandlers._


	4. Chapter 4

**So this chapter isn't something I'm super happy with (heh) but after a two rewrites I think it's as good as it's going to get. The plot will start moving a bit faster from Chapter 5 onwards, especially when the other major main character of this story joins Natsu in the next few chapters. As always, thank you to everyone who is bothering to read this admittedly out there premise for a Fairy Tail fic. Feel free to leave a review!**

* * *

 **Haven City, Planet Haven, Mellgar System, Haven Republic, Edge Space**

"Lynn, are you serious? Another delivery job? These things are so boring!"

"Oh, quit your bitching. Delivery is what we specialize in and you still have a debt to pay off. Most debtors would kill for how easy you have it."

Natsu sighed, holding the phone away form his face as he stood at the corner of Erschena Street and Le'er'va Avenue, watching the throngs of people going about their business as Haven's sun peaked out from behind clouds with cheerful morning rays, cars and speeders driving down the asphalt roadway, before bringing it back to his ear.

"Yeah I know. Fairy Tail wizards keep their promises. I'll do it," Natsu consented, defeat in his voice, "Where is it and whose it going to?"

"Pick-up is at parking garage on Lteska Boulevard. It'll be under the rear grav-panel of a blue S-45 Rover. It's magnetically attached, so just use those muscles of yours to get off," Lynn's voice was clear and precise, as she always was when giving him directions, "After you retrieve it, it's going to Renton Heights, Suite 84. Knock seven times and say you're an Albatross bringing a gift to Tez. You going to remember all that?"

"Under a blue Rover, knock seven times, ask for Tez," Natsu mumbled to her quickly, "Yeah, I got it, I'll call you when it's done." He hung up the phone before she could reply. He liked Lynn, he really did, but her bossiness rivaled Erza's and he didn't feel like getting called a moron this early in the morning just because he forgot the instructions to a delivery one time.

 _Well at least Lynn didn't beat me,_ Natsu thought as he shoved the phone back into his pants' pocket and started off towards his destination, _Erza would have kicked my ass all over the place and lectured me the whole time. Erza. Gray. Happy. Lucy. Where are you guys?_

It had been a week since he woke up in the Albatross' med-bay and met the ships' crew. A full week of him running errands trying to pay back Lynn and the others for saving him. A full week and he hadn't heard come across a single lead on any of his friends. He had asked around the bars and gambling halls of Haven City, had Vern and Wres question the spacers and traders down at the starport, and even tried his hand searching for news articles on the StellarNet, before he got distracted by animal videos. Nothing. There was no sign of his guildmates.

 _I can't give up though!_ Natsu thought determinedly as he weaved his way through the crowds, _They're out there somewhere! They have to be!_ He grit his teeth as he pushed that thought down in his mind. Best to focus on his current mission. After that, he'd be right back on the search.

He was still adjusting to life here, in this strange place they called Haven. From what he had been told by Vern and the others and what he had read on the Net before getting bored, Haven was some kind of big trade hub between Edge Space and the Empire, whatever the hell those things were. People and races from all over the galaxy visited and lived here. Anything could be bought and sold here, if you had the money and desire. Not that it mattered to Natsu, as he had no money to speak of, anything he would have earned going back into his debt. Which he stilled owed quite a bit to Lynn.

 _I've done over a dozen tasks this past week and haven't even earned a thousand yet,_ he thought despairingly as he stood at a crosswalk, waiting for the traffic to come to a stop, _At this rate, I'll be stuck working for that one eyed pirate wannabe forever!_ He stifled a yawn as the signal to walk came on, joining the other pedestrians on crossing the street. The nightmare that had woken him up originally hadn't gone away. It had come back every night, more or less the same, tormenting him with images of death and torture. He felt like he had barely slept throughout the week. He wondered if the nightmares had a greater meaning or were just anxiety over being separated form his friends. He kept telling himself it was the latter, even though he wasn't sure he believed that.

He at least had this brand-new world to take his mind off of the hellish images as he tired eyes drifted about, drinking in the sights of Haven's exotic landscape. There had to be over three dozen different races on the streets and most of them Natsu couldn't name without consulting the database on his phone. Most of them were humanoid in body shape and had animalistic or humanoid features but there were some truly weird creatures he had seen about previously, like the floating gas bags that he delivered a big and very heavy package to the other day. There were conversations in a hundred thousand different tongues going on around him and thanks to the translator the Albatross crew had provided him, he understood nearly every word being said around him.

He idly scratched at the spot behind his right ear as he thought about that, though he could barely feel the translator now, the tiny black rectangular device having sunk deeper into his flesh, only the very top layer of it sitting evenly along his skin now. The contraption was truly amazing. There was no delay or mispronunciations when talking to others, the translator could render a whole city block worth of conversations seamlessly, even if all those were in vastly different languages. It didn't handle text all that well though.

Natsu still felt a bit of nausea whenever he had to focus and read something. The translator would actually transform foreign scripts into something he could read, but there was a bit of a lag to it and the transition form foreign squiggles to legible writing was a blurry, stomach flipping process to him. Still it helped to be able to find his way around with the street signs now, as though he was learning the scents of this place, he still didn't have a good enough grasp to navigate on his draconic smell alone.

He made his way past parked cars and speeders, brushed past a Cervanil arguing loudly on her phone, as the morning sun sparkled off the glass windows of Haven City's skyscrapers. The air above was always in motion, airspeeders zooming past in streams like fish in the ocean, further up in the atmosphere ships meant for sailing the stars blasted to and from the city's four starports. Shuttles and courier craft darted their way from starships and through the streams of airspeeders, carrying items or people of importance. Natsu even spied a Haven Justice Enforcer gunship making swooping overhead, it's sleek curved shape and turreted wings reminding him of a hawk on the hunt.

He did enjoy these walks around the city, especially if it was with Vern and Wres. They seemed to know all the fun spots in the city, which bars had the cheapest but strongest booze, the gaming arcade that they had to drag him out of after he blew the tokens they gave him trying to win a stuffed snow-creature that vaguely reminded him of Plue out of a prize machine and then proceeded to smash the cheating machine in a fiery display of anger, and they had even snuck into a stadium to watch some sort of sports game. Natsu still wasn't sure how said game worked, but involved a lot of angry players slamming into each other while trying to keep a gas-filled ball afloat. He had been entertaining as hell to watch.

He adjusted his scarf as a vaguely chemical scented breeze rushed past him, reminding him how cold Haven could be in the mornings. The scarf was currently the only part of his old wardrobe left, the other clothes having been tossed by Lynn and the others for being too damaged and he wasn't allowed to wear his sandals, which he found frustrating as hell. They had bought him a couple of outfits, including the one he was wearing now. A jet-black hooded jacket, with a dark grey shirt and dark green cargo pants, along with the very irritating and uncomfortable black combat boots that Lynn had made him wear. Apparently, having a representative of the Albatross Delivery Service show up in sandals was "unprofessional". Natsu hated how constricted his feet felt, especially in the long black work socks he had to wear now.

 _Well at least I didn't have to add the clothes to my debt,_ he thought as he rounded the corner past a Quppan in a long cloak hawking pirated vids, _And they've been feeding me and giving me a place to crash for free. I'm thankful for that, I just wish there was a more fun filled way to pay them back. This delivery boy stuff sucks!_

It wasn't long before he made his way to the parking garage, past the bored looking Pascanese window clerk who didn't bother to look up from her holozine, until he finally spotted the blue Rover groundspeeder. Not caring about the cameras that were surely watching him, he put his hand under the sloped speeder's rear grav-panel, pawing along the cold metal until he felt the smooth plastic of the package. Grunting as he pulled the magnetized object off with some difficulty, he looked it over. About six inches long, maybe two wide. Not very big. He stuffed it into the inner pocket of his jacket before heading out of the garage, checking every few levels to make sure he wasn't being followed. He had never actually encountered any trouble on any of these jobs, much to his dismay, but it never hurt to be careful.

Stepping out unto the streets, he pulled out his phone, which had been added to his debt by Lynn even though it was apparently a necessity to doing his job, bringing up the local maps app, as he didn't precisely know where Renton Heights was. He could have asked someone on the streets, but he had quickly learned when trying to get leads on his friends that most of the people on Haven, human or alien, where fairly paranoid and unfriendly. Best to just find it on his own.

He wondered what was in the package. Lynn never told him anything, but judging from the secrecy that surrounded all the tasks she had set upon him, he was pretty sure that was he was delivering wasn't exactly legal. Not like that meant much on Haven, where you could buy anything from cheap knock-off timepieces to slaves, as long as the local government got its cut. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, but as long as it meant he could find his friends and get back home, he supposed he'd worry about the ramifications of it later. He frowned at his phone when he finally got the directions pulled up, still not fully used to the equipment.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" he said out loud, "It's a three hour walk away!" He didn't have any cash to take a speeder-bus, not that he really wanted to. He had puked all over himself the first time he had rode on one of those with Venr and Wres when going to get replacement clothes and they had pretty much told him that he was walking form now on. He growled in frustration. This wasn't how he wanted to spend the morning.

The walk to the towering Renton Heights had been fairly long and mind-numbingly boring, as it took him to the city's southern district, near the beaches with the Sanctuary Sea. The Heights appeared to be some sort of touristy hotel for beach goers and Natsu was a bit relieved whenever the receptionists hadn't bothered to question him when he made his way to the central elevator, awaiting patiently as the door opened and spilled out families and groups of friends heading for the white-sand beaches and rapidly warming waters of the ocean. He got in with a few others, before hitting the button to the eighth floor as he tried to remember what he was supposed to do before giving the client the package.

 _I'm supposed to ask for Tez,_ he thought as the elevator stopped at the second floor to disgorge some of it's passengers into brightly decorated hallways, _What was the other stuff? Knock like, ten times? And say I'm an Albatross? I think that's right. Can't call Lynn to ask, she'll just chew me out for not paying attention. Which I totally was. Sort of._

He shrugged it off as he stepped off the elevator when it reached the eighth floor, into a brightly lit hallway, a painted a gaudy pastel blue with thick green carpets, plenty of abstract but oddly soothing portraits lining the walls. He made his way to Suite 84, before doing a double-take to make sure the hallway was empty. Satisfied that it was clear, he proceeded to bang loudly on the door ten times before yelling out.

"Albatross Delivery! Got a package for Tez!"

There was the sound of several locks being undone and the door opened just enough for Natsu to see a huge blue reptilian eye staring at him a few feet below him. There was a moment of silence as the eye blinked at him a few times before he cleared his throat.

"You're Tez right? Lynn sent me. I have a package for you," Natsu said as he dug the package from his jacket pocket and showed it to the eye. Natsu's eyebrow quirked as the door swung open, revealing a small gecko-like humanoid, dressed in a loose fitting purple hoodie, a cybernetic implant in on the side of its head. Natsu wracked his brain, trying to remember what he's species was called. He thought t began with an A, but there were over sixty something recorded sapient species in the galaxy and he had been here less than eight days. He couldn't remember them all.

"Ah so you're the newest Albatross," the alien said, it's soft voice having a slight lisp to it, "I had heard that Lynn took on a new member. I am indeed Tezkura, though you may just call me Tez. I thank you for bringing me that, it is most valuable to my work."

"Uh, your welcome," Natsu said as he handed the diminutive reptilian the package, which it took eagerly in its four-fingered hands, "I know I'm not supposed to ask the clients this, but what exactly is your work?" Natsu really didn't expect an answer, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. All of Lynn's jobs either had him picking up packages and dropping them off to a bunch of shady people or in one case, just standing guard while she and Vern went into a warehouse for about two hours. Just for once he wanted to know just a little bit of what was going on.

"Still new at this I see?" the little gecko laughed quietly, "Well I see no harm in telling you. I'm an information broker. We Abexi are very good at social networking and I'm one of the best in the Edge. I sell secrets to Edge governments, find good job leads for runners like your Albatross Company, even sold the identity of a Resistance bomb maker to Imperial Intelligence once. And what you just gave me helps my job immensely. Does that satisfy your curiosity human?"

"Sort of," Natsu said as he waited for the payment that was supposed to come before an idea popped off in his mind.

"Wait, if you job is finding information, maybe you can help me. I'm looking for some people. My friends. We got separated about eight days ago and I have no idea where they are at," Natsu said as the little reptile had disappeared into his room, before reappearing with a clear bag of crysti-chips, "The only thing I know is that they all should have fallen out of the sky like I did. It's a long story before you ask ."

"I can find anyone or anything given enough time. It'll cost you of course, but we can work out the price and the details later. I have other work I need to get to, now that I have my package, but here," Tez reached into his front hoodie pocket and pulled out a clear laminated card, "that has my contact number. Feel me in with details later and I'll look for your missing friends. And keep me in mind if you ever need help with anything you'd rather keep off of Net searches. Now I bid you farewell, Natsu Dragneel."

"Wait, how did you know my name?" Natsu asked in confusion, but the Abexi had already closed the door, the sounds of multiple locks clicking suggesting that that the info-broker wasn't going to be answering any more questions. Sighing Natsu looked at the card.

It had Tezkura's name on it, along with a contact number. He put it away in his inner pocket as the crysti-chips went into one of his cargo pockets on his pants before he went back towards the elevator, digging out his phone to call Lynn and let her know the job was done. He had a long walk back to the Starport District and he was starting to get hungry.

 _They better have lunch ready for me by the time I get back,_ Natsu thought as he hit the key for Lynn's contact number.

* * *

It was half past noon by the time Natsu arrived back at the _Albatross'_ hangar. His feet hurt, he wanted a nightmare free nap, and he was starving. As he stumbled up to the landing ramp, his nose twitched as he caught the scent of something delicious cooking. Something with real meat in it.

With a new burst of energy, he bolted up the ramp, into the cargo hold before climbing up the ladder that lead into the main hallway of the ship, that delicious scent teasing him the whole time before he waved at the sensor on the door to open it. Inside the common room, the scent was overwhelming, spices and herbs mixing with roasting meat. His stomach was growling like a feral animal as he stepped in. Lynn was at the kitchen, cooking some sort of side dish on top of the stove while Wres was lounging on the couch, lazily flipping through vid channels. Upon noticing the Fire Dragon Slayer's entrance, he gave him a friendly wave.

"Ahh your back Natsu! I trust the delivery went off without a hitch then?" the Yendari asked as he continued to flip through the channels.

"Yeah no issues as usual. You guys always seem to expect me to run into trouble," Natsu said as he dug out the bag of crysti-chips and walked over to Lynn, "I got Tez's payment. What's this bring me up to on the debt?"

"Thirty-nine hundred," came Lynn's smooth reply as she turned the burner on the stove to a faint simmer before opening the oven door, "Take a seat. Lunch is going to be ready in a minute."

"Only thirty-nine hundred! Come on Lynn, if I'm just earning chump change doing these two-bit delivery jobs, then give me something that pays well!" Natsu slammed his hands on the kitchen counter, rattling a stirring spoon as Lynn gave him an apologetic look.

"I'd love to kid, but Dekklin won't let me give you any big jobs. Gotta do what the boss says, even if I don't agree with it."

"That's not fair and you know it!"

Lynn frowned at him. "Listen, I'm doing the best I can. Now just go sit down and quit bitching and I'll feed you. Sound good?"

Natsu grumbled under his breath, before reluctantly taking a seat as his stomach betrayed him. Wres took a seat at the common table across from him as Lynn took out the roast and started carving it. The food looked so good and Lynn was a good cook, but he was still mad. He needed to start making money of his own, needed to be out looking for his friends.

"Hey if it's any consolation Natsu, Lynn wants to take you on the run tomorrow, but the Captain is the one shooting her down," Wres said as Lynn started setting up plates, "And no offense, but I can see why he's saying no. You don't have any real experience in running."

"Can't get any without trying," Natsu grumbled as Lynn set down plates around the table, "I'm a Fairy Tail wizard. There isn't anything we can do if we set our minds to it."

He didn't say anything else as he started shoveling food into his mouth, relishing the taste of the meat. He wasn't sure what creature it came from, but it was delicious. He had already finished half of his plate whenever the door to the commons opened again and the messy red hair of Vern strode in, Choxin's floating form following closely behind.

"What's up bitches!" Vern said with a toothy grin as he took a seat next to Wres, "How's the food?"

"Why don't you ask Natsu over there, assuming he can talk right now," Wres laughed as Natsu paused form shoveling the last bite of his food into his mouth, before shrugging and eating it anyways.

"Damn man, remember to breathe! I know Lynn makes some kickass food but Isanada above man you don't want to choke yourself on it!"

"I haven't eaten all day, cut me some slack," Natsu said as he downed a glass of water, "Where the hell have you and Choxin been?"

"Running errands. By the way Lynn," Vern turned to the dark-haired woman who as just now taking a seat next to Choxin, "Cargo is going to be dropped off here tonight at twenty-three hundred hours. Got the papers here with me if you want to see."

"Show them to me after lunch. After that we'll work on getting the cargo bay ready. Dekklin should be back to help out in a little bit," Lynn said as she speared a piece of the still faintly steaming meat with her fork.

"Vernon, I believe we should tell Natsu that piece of information we learned at the warehouse," Choxin said I between shoving bites of meat into his beaked mouth, "It's sure to be of much interest to him."

"Oh yeah that's right," Vern said as Natsu peaked up in interest, "Guy down at the warehouse asked if we saw that new blue talking cat for sale in the Sump District. Isn't that one supposed to be one of your friends?" Vern blinked in surprise as Natsu shot across the table, knocking his plate and cup to the floor, and grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie, eyes wide and excited.

"That's Happy! Where is he?!"

"Isanada above man, calm down! I think it was Madame Pezroka's Menagrie, right on the main street."

Before Vern could say another word, Natsu had let go and was already racing full speed out the commons room, screaming that he was going for his little buddy. Vern looked to his other crew members, who looked equally as stunned before Lynn chuckled.

"Well I guess we'll find out if that other dimension story is true or not."

* * *

It was late into the afternoon by the time Natsu navigated his way into the foul-smelling Sump District, which lay on the Erakas River. The Sumps were a poor area, formerly a landfill for Haven City that had gradually been settled by the poor and desperate, building homes out of garbage and trash. The Sumps were a criminal haven, with gangs of all stripes claiming and fighting for territory. Most people avoided the area, but those with a need for goods that many would hesitate to flash in even permissive Haven's main markets often came to the back-alleys and sweatshops of the Sumps. And apparently, Happy had had the misfortune to land in this dump.

"Don't worry little buddy, I'm taking you back with me," Natsu said lowly as he passed a group of tattooed blue-skinned Remeri thugs who eyed him the way a lion eyes a newborn gazelle before turning their attention to start glaring at a pair of armored and well-armed reptilian Marralians bearing the red sword impaled into a planet banner of the Crimson Knight Order on their cerasteel breastplates. Natsu paid none of the thugs and mercenaries any mind. He could see the crooked, hand-painted sign for Madame Pezroka's Menagrie ahead. The building was a squat, vaguely rectangular construction of scrap, with no doors on the front, just heavy and filthy curtains, black with dirt and smog, only smidges of the original violet shining through.

Natsu pushed aside the curtains, looking around the shop. It was filled with howling and screeching from dozens of different animals, most of them crammed into cages far to small for them. Sleek scaled carnigons roared as jumping lekdashers cried out at not being able to run. There was a thick hazy smoke in the room, which was already starting to give Natsu a headache and it was dimly lit with flickering lamps. But up ahead, in a small hanging cage near a large front counter, was the unmistakable blue furred form of his best friend.

"Happy! I'm coming to get you little buddy!" Natsu shouted as he ran towards his imprisoned friend, who was currently huddled together. Upon hearing a familiar voice, the Exceed looked up, almost not believing who he was seeing.

"Natsu? Is that you?!" Happy sprung up, almost hitting his head on the top of his cage before gripping the bars of his cage, "Get me out of here! That mean old lady is going to sell me to that creepy slug man!"

"Don't worry buddy, I'll get you out of there!" Natsu said has he grabbed Natsu's cage before he heard the sound of shotgun being pumped. He looked over, cursing himself for not being more aware as he spotted an older white-furred Isarang female, dressed in an imitation of high-class styles with her wrinkled tapir-like snout having some purple lines on it and along with a slug-like Sluverian dressed in fine blue suit, his green skin glistening with mucous even in this dim light.

The Isarang had a sawed-off pump-action pointed at him, though the weapon looked beat-up and ill-maintained even to Natsu, whose knowledge of firearms amounted to what he had seen Alzack and Bisca use, along with a brief five-minute perusal when he was on the Net.

"Hands off my merchandise, you dirty human thief!" the Isarang's voice was raspy, her snout flopping as she spoke, "That little creature belongs to me and he's going to belong to this gentleman in the next few seconds. Now out of my store! Before I decide to pulp you here and now!"

"Happy doesn't belong to anybody! He's my friend and he's coming with me!" Natsu said as he reached for his magic and ignited both of his fists, making sure to shield Happy just in case the Isarang decided to fire.

"Wrong boy. That delicious looking animal belongs to me," the Sluverian spoke up, his four eyestalks extending to their full length, back eyes glaring at Natsu, "Mage or not, humans are so fragile. Leave now before something regrettable happens." The Sluverian was reaching into belt he wore and Natsu saw a pistol holster on his side. He grinned, as he finally realized that he'd get to cut loose after a week of running banal errands for Lynn.

"Happy is coming with me, end of story! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu screamed as he shot forward, ducking low as the Isarang fired her shotgun before punching the Sluverian as hard as he could in the slimy alien's midsection. His grin turned into a frown when he only singed the alien's suit, the slime on it's skin covering his fist and extinguishing the magic. A slimy backhand knocked Natsu back into a table with a bunch of caged alien birds, who upon the destruction or warping of their cages from the Dragon Slayers impact, scrambled to freedom, cawing and screeching as the Isarang woman cursed and threw her shotgun down.

"You morons, you're letting the animals loose!"

"Natsu! Get me out of here!"

"Hold on Happy!" Natsu screamed as he got up, before jumping to the side as the Sluverian fired a trio of shots form his pistol before laughing, a thick mucous spraying guffaw bellowing up from his core.

"Sluverian slime can neutralize fire, even magical fire. Or did you not pay attention in class human?" the slug man said arrogantly as he pointed his pistol at Natsu, the Isarang shopkeeper having retrieved a large net to try and catch the flying and squawking birds in her shop.

"Well if I can't burn you, maybe this guy can take nice bite out of you!" Natsu grinned as he rolled out of the way of another bullet before ripping the cage door off of one of the agitated carnigons, the confused and hungry armored reptile leaping out and barreling straight towards the now alarmed Sluverian. Natsu shot a fireball into the other side of the store, laughing as the blast sent cages and doors flying, angry and terrified animals spilling out into the store.

"You fucking bastard, quit destroying my shop!" the Isarang woman screamed out in despair as a lekdasher, excited at the prospect of being able to move freely again, leapt into the alien crone's face, knocking her down with a muffled scream as the excited amphibian let out a happy croak. Natsu jumped over her, past the now screaming Sluverian who was desperately tying to get the carnigon that was mauling his arm off of him, before grabbing Happy's cage door and ripping it off with his bare hands.

"Come on Happy! Let's blow this place!" Natsu grinned as he reached in and grabbed the Exceed.

"Aye sir! I don't wanna see this place ever again!" Happy said vehemently as Natsu ran through the chaos of escaping animals, many who were now barreling towards the entrance, ripping the curtains down and spilling out to the streets of the Sumps, much to the amusement, confusion, and terror of the residents.

"Happy I'm so glad to see you!" Natsu pulled the little cat into a tight hug as he continued to run, "I was getting lonely! How did you end up in that place?"

"Oh Natsu, it was horrible!" Happy started to cry, "After we went through that awful portal, I ended up in a garbage dump. I woke up to a bunch of weird little kids poking me with a stick and when I told them to get away they tackled me and stuffed me into a sack and sold me to that awful woman. She made me talk to everyone who came in, stuck this weird black thing in my head so I could understand everybody and she was going to sell me to that slug guy and I'm pretty sure he wanted to eat me! I kept hoping you or Erza or anybody would come save me! What took you so long?!"

Natsu's blood boiled at the thought of someone even trying to eat Happy and he had half a mind to turn around and torch the whole pet shop down with both aliens still in it, but thought better of it. The Sumps weren't a safe place and it was getting late. Better to head back to the Albatross. He looked down at the little Exceed and felt a surge of guilt. He should have found him sooner, been looking harder.

"I'm sorry Happy. I got kind of beat up my first day here and spent two days out of commission. The people who've been helping me have had me running jobs to pay them back and I haven't had enough time to search for you and the others as I wanted. I did search though, I looked everyday for you and everybody else!" Natsu said as he could see the border where the Sumps tuned into Midtown. Happy sniffed and looked away from Natsu.

"Yeah well, you owe me like a hundred fishes. That mean old woman didn't feed me any," Happy said as he crossed his little arms, but Natsu relaxed as he could hear the gratitude and joy slipping in the Exceed's grumpy tone.

"Sounds good to me little buddy!" Natsu laughed as they started hitting the hard concrete and pavement streets of Midtown, "I promise I'll get Lynn to cook you up some when we get back."

"Whose Lynn?" Happy asked as he looked up at the skyscrapers of Haven City with wonder in his eyes.

"One of my new friends! I'll introduce you to everyone when we get back to the Albatross! Aw man Happy, if I found you, then the others can't be far behind!" Natsu said excitedly.

 _I'm going to find you next Lucy_ , he thought determinedly as Happy started to salivate at the food carts they were passing, _And when I do, I'm not going to lose you again._

* * *

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Dekklin stared in disbelief as Natsu continued to parade his toddler sized blue cat around the common room, the little creature speaking like a human. Vern and Wres were drilling both Natsu and the little feline, Happy was his name apparently, with questions of their dimension. Which it was answering like it was the Isanada honest truth. Wizard guilds, evil sorcerers, Natsu's other lost friends. Adam Dekklin had seen a lot of things in his forty-eight years of life, most of them bad, some of them weird. This though. This topped the list of bizarre shit.

"It is extremely improbable," Choxin said as Happy and Natsu started recounting how they had met, "but he obviously knows this creature. And for both of them to share the same delusion, with corresponding details, is, well, almost impossible Captain."

"But it doesn't make any damn sense. None of what he is saying should be possible," Dekklin said as he gritted his teeth, grabbing his whiskey as Lynn smirked at him.

"It doesn't make any sense, but there's a damn blue talking cat verifying every bit of Natsu's story. One escaped Imperial lab rat with a delusion, sure I buy that. Two of them on the same planet, with the same exact story? Face it Adam, we have two bona-fide extradimensional travelers dancing around our common room," Lynn said as Dekklin downed his whiskey before pouring himself another glass, "Now the bigger question is what we do with them. If he's right he's still got friends out there. And he needs to get home."

"Fuck Lynn, that's not our problem," Dekklin said, knowing where she was going with this, "It's enough trouble keeping Vern and Wres in line without taking on two hyper-active weirdos from another dimension. He can pay you back, then look for his friends and a way home on his own."

"Adam, you're not being fair. He won't be staying forever. Just keep him on long enough to earn some money and get some experience with how the galaxy works, that way he actually has a shot out there. Otherwise, you might as well toss him to the Magisterium," Lynn scowled at him and Dekklin sighed, knowing that the woman wouldn't be dropping this topic till she won.

"Fine, we'll take him on the run tomorrow. If he isn't a complete and utter fuck-up, and that's a big if, he can stay on for a bit, until he can get enough cash to get out of our hair and out of your damned conscious," Dekklin said defeatedly as Lynn pulled him into a hug, laughter echoing from the table as Natsu, red in the face, clamped a hand over Happy's mouth, Vern catcalling Natsu over someone named Lucy.

"You have a good heart Adam, even if you do your best not to show it," Lynn said as she pulled away and watched Natsu start to chase Happy, who to the surprise of everyone, sprouted feathered wings and stated to fly just out of the pink-haired boy's reach.

"Yeah well, if he fucks up, it's on you."

* * *

 **Excerpts from the Encylopedias Imperalis, Approved For Public View by the Imperial Ministry of Culture and Truth**

 **Society, Currency:** _While most of the galaxy, at least the civilized parts under the benevolent rule of our Empire make use of the standard digital Imperial credit unit or credit for short for all their financial uses, this is not the case in the wilds of Edge Space. With so many competing and disunited species and governments, there is a dizzying array of currencies, from the Xeytovian strenz to the Keladeshi dollar to the Cervanili certro. In order to better facilitate underworld trade, crystal chips, commonly called crysti-chips, were introduced by criminal elements on Haven as a way of having a hard, physical currency to exchange goods for. This has caught on throughout Edge Space, with many preferring to use the small square crystals even when operating solely within one star nations boundaries._

 **Species, Glokkin:** _The Glokkin are a floating, amphibious, twelve tentacled race of cephalopods from the oceanic world of Wuxu, deep in the Imperial Heartland. Omnivorous and highly intelligent, the Glokkin reached space early in the civilization, uniting under one government relatively quickly and painlessly compared to most species. The Glokklin float through the use of six air bladders, which they can adjust to allow them to descend or rise. They also possess shifting pigments on their skin, which changes colors based on the Glokkin's emotional state. Glokkin society prizes education and science, and many doctors and professors across the Empire come from this old, inquisitive race. The Glokkin were founding members of the Empire, thanks to already having been a part of the human Mekartan Empire following their peaceful joining of the old Founder Empire some fifteen hundred years ago._

 **Technology, Translators:** _The Moxri translator, named after the Glokkin engineer who invented it some two millennia ago, is considered one of the most important innovations in the history of the galaxy next to the discovery of the Jump drive. These small black boxes are filled with nanobots, which when implanted into a sapient recipient, spread into their brain and sensory organs, before working together to real-time translate any foreign language that has been put into their database into something the user can understand. While early models could only handle a few different languages at a time, modern translators hold millions of different languages, can translate nearly one thousand different languages simultaneously, and can even render writing into something readable to the user. Truly, galactic society would not be possible on it's current level without these wondrous devices._


	5. Chapter 5

**Well its been a while hasnt it. Sorry to everyone whos been reading, real life got very busy and I also discovered the amazing drug of Monster Hunter:World. But I promise I'll do my best to update more regularly.**

 **This chapter was originally supposed to be longer, but I'm not a fan of huge chapters myself, so its being split into two. I've also dropped a snippet at the end of our other major character, coming soon in the next few chapters. I'm hoping that no one guesses who it is before the reveal.**

 **As always thanks for reading and feel free to drop a review!**

* * *

 **Haven City, Planet Haven, Mallgar System, Haven Republic, Edge Space**

"Natsu! Please! Save me!"

Natsu shot awake, nearly banging his head on the top of the cramped sleeping unit that the crew had given him, fully alert, his heart pumping. That same scene of torture, death, and mutilation kept replaying without end. That voice at the end was one of his friends, the one that kept begging him to save her, but he couldn't place it. He thought it sounded like Lucy's, but it always had a frustratingly nebulous quality to it. In the end it didn't matter. He was going to find his friends, save them all if he had to, and then they'd find a way home.

 _Where ever you're at Lucy, just hold on,_ Natsu thought as his heartbeat started to go back down to its normal rate before he noticed that he had lit both of his fists on fire without even realizing it. He quickly extinguished them, lest he set his blanket on fire and set off the ship's fire suppression system. A soggy and angry crew was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now. His ears picked up the sound of grunting and fearful mews and he looked down to see Happy, still asleep and curled up next to him, was tossing and turning, mumbling to himself in a small, terrified voice.

"Hey, Happy. Wake up little buddy," Natsu said apologetically as he lightly shook the Exceed, having a sneaking suspicion what was making his friend so upset. He shook the Exceed again, who bolted awake, backing up to pillowside wall.

"Ahhhhh! Natsu! They're about to get me! Help!" Happy screamed, covering his face as he shook in absolute terror.

"Happy, I'm right here!" Natsu said as he grabbed the little blue cat and pulled him into a tight, protective hug, "Hey, no one's here buddy. It was just a bad dream. Nobody's going to hurt you."

"It was so real Natsu!" Happy said as he sobbed into Natsu's bare chest, "They were hurting everyone. You, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, even Carla. And they wanted to hurt me too, they were chasing me!" Natsu's eyes narrowed at that as he pulled Happy off him and set him down in front of him, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Happy," Natsu said, voice low and serious, "This nightmare. All of our friends were being tortured by bright golden people right? In a shadow place?"

"Yeah," Happy's eyes went wide, "How did you-"

"I've been having the same damn nightmare since we wound up here. I thought it might just being my imagination going into overdrive, but if your having the same thing… I don't like this Happy. I don't like this one bit."

"Aye sir," Happy said, though it lacked his usual enthusiasm, as images from that horrible nightmare kept flashing in Happy's mind. Natsu scratched the back of his head as he reached for his phone, set on charge mode on the footlocker that was right up against the wall his bed was built into. He turned it back on, wondering what time it was. The blue digits on the black screen told him it was six twenty seven. The sun wasn't even out yet on Haven.

"Well Happy," Natsu said as he let out a long, satisfying yawn, "Might as well get some breakfast if we're up. Maybe we'll go to a park today, just take an hour or two to relax before we go back on the hunt."

"Aye sir!" Happy said, his normal joyous tone returning, "I want some fish for my morning snack!"

Natsu was about to remind Happy that they didn't have any fish on the ship currently, when the door to their cramped quarters opened up. Natsu felt a frown come to his face as Dekklin strode in, already dressed, steaming hot cup of coffee in his hand as he stared down at the two. Happy instinctively got behind Natsu, not liking the look on Dekklin's face, while Natsu crossed his arms.

"Did we wake you?" Natsu asked, not caring at the hostility in his tone. Though he was grateful to Dekklin for saving him from the Violet Suns thugs, the man rubbed Natsu the wrong way in almost everyway possible. Dekklin took a sip from his steaming cup before answering.

"No, though I could hear your damn cat up in the cockpit. Was coming to wake you up," he grunted out as Natsu got out of his bed, Happy on his shoulder as he stretched.

"Yeah well, I'm already up. And we're leaving in a little bit. I know I have to be on my own while you guys do your run. Just let us get breakfast and get dressed and we'll be out of here," Natsu said coldly, feeling a little annoyed that Dekklin was already coming to kick them out.

"Belay that," Dekklin commanded, causing Natsu to pause from opening his footlocker, "There's been a change of plans. You're coming on the run with us." Natsu looked at him, almost not believing what he had heard.

"What? Really? What changed your mind?" Natsu asked skeptically, wondering if Dekklin was trying to play a joke on him. It wasn't a very funny one if it was.

"Lynn did. We had a very in-depth discussion once you came back with the cat," Dekklin stated simply, "Though I'm still not a hundred percent convinced you aren't some escaped lunatic, Lynn thinks you're going to need some real experience out in the galaxy if you want to find your friends. Normally I wouldn't take an amateur on the type of run we're doing today, but your magic might come in handy."

"Expecting trouble?" Natsu asked, not caring if he sounded excited. He may have just had the little scrape yesterday to get Happy back, but he hadn't been in a real fight since taking on Xylophone. Being able to really cut loose would feel good.

"We're going on a hot run, so there's a good chance of it," Dekklin admitted, "Doesn't mean I want you picking fights when we can avoid them so let me make something very clear." He set his coffee on an alcove and walked up to Natsu, grabbing him roughly by the shoulder and bringing him face to face with him.

"While you're with us, you will follow my orders to the letter. Then you follow Lynn's, Wres', Choxin's and Vern's, in that order. If you put my ship or my crew in danger because you want to be a hot-headed jackass, I'll shoot you myself. Is that understood?" Dekklin's voice was clear and full of certainty. Natsu had no doubt the man would carry out his promise if it came to it.

"Yeah, I understand," Natsu said coolly, meeting Dekklin's glare in equal measure.

"Aye sir, I understand too!" Happy said skittishly from behind Natsu's back. Dekklin shot Happy a withering glare, causing the Exceed to yelp and resume cowering behind Natsu's back.

"Good. Go get a shower, breakfast, whatever the fuck you do in the morning. Just be in the commons dressed and ready to go at seven hundred exactly," Dekklin said as he released Natsu's shoulder, retrieving his coffee and heading out of the cramped cabin room that was Natsu and Happy's current home.

"I don't like that guy Natsu. He's mean," Happy said as he dropped down form Natsu's back before looking up to his best friend, "Hey, what's this run he keeps talking about? Is it a race?"

"I don't think so Happy," Natsu chuckled as he smelled himself, frowning when he realized he probably did need a shower, "I'm not exactly sure what it is, but we'll find out in a little bit. In the meantime, how about we get some breakfast and maybe a shower?"

"Aye sir!"

* * *

The _Albatross_ was a fairly small vessel, at least compared to some of the behemoth ships Natsu had seen at the starport and in the skies above the city. She was only around sixty feet long, with a bulky cockpit connected to large curved, vaguely rectangular core module by a thick connection tube, two long folding stabilizing wings equipped with highly maneuverable micro-thrusters coming off the core module. The connection tube had two private cabins, where Dekklin and Lynn slept, while the core module was divided into two layers.

The cargo bay and landing ramp, along with the ship's engineering section, took up the bottom half, connected to the upper levels by ladders and a small lift. The upper half consisted of the circular commons room, four extremely small crew cabins, a med-bay, and a restroom, fully equipped with a shower and several sinks and toilets, hooked up the ship's aqua reservoir tank that sat between the cargo bay and engineering. The ship could be cramped at times, but it did have a homey quality to it that Natsu liked.

It was a well-used and thoroughly lived in vessel. You could tell by the scratches and dents on the inside, how well-worn and smooth the ladder rungs were, how everyone's scent stayed with the ship even when they we gone for most of the day. And while it certainly wasn't as crowded or rowdy as the Fairy Tail guild hall, it had that same familial, hearthy quality to it that Natsu loved. He had finished his shower and had thrown on his jacket and cargo pants, putting his boots and socks on while swearing at them the whole time.

He and his faithful Exceed partner were chilling in the common room, munching on leftover roast for breakfast. They weren't alone, as Choxin and Wres had joined them, the two aliens also filling up on some breakfast as they all sat at the common table.

"So Natsu, Happy," Wres said as he finished off some sort of egg sandwich, "Heard you two are coming with us today. Nervous?"

"Not really," Natsu said off-handley, "Back home, we always took on the most dangerous jobs we could. Fairy Tail wizards can handle anything."

"I like your enthusiasm. Just make sure to listen to what we tell you out there okay," Wres said as his green eyes went briefly from Natsu to the yawning form of Vern, who was just entering the commons from his cabin, "I know Dekklin probably already gave you that speech, but I want to stress it. It can get down right deadly out there and we need to make sure we work together as a team. I'm security, it's my job to make sure everyone comes out alive on runs."

"Yeah I know, I'll reign in the impulsiveness," Natsu said, much warmer than he had been with Dekklin, "If doing jobs with you guys will help me find my friends, I'll do whatever it takes!"

"Help you find Lucy you mean," Vern quipped, a smirk on his tired face as he walked by on his way to make some coffee. Natsu tried to not let any blood rush to his cheeks, but that failed once his partner chimed in a sing-song voice.

"They're in love!"

"Shut it cat! Am not!"

Vern and Wres both chuckled as Choxin simply flashed orange in confusion.

"If you do not mind me asking Natsu, this Lucy? I take it she is your wife?"

"What?! No!" Natsu's face now matched Vern's hair, "We're just friends!"

"Oh, I see, you are what Vernon calls the friends with mating benefits," Choxin said understandingly as both Vern and Wres started to howl with laughter at Natsu's face as the Dragon Slayer slammed his head on the table, unable to look anyone in the eye right now.

"Okay, that's enough. Leave the poor kid alone," came Lynn's voice as she walked into the commons, Dekklin at her side, "And its just friends with benefits Choxin, don't make it weird by adding the mating thing."

"For being such a sexually driven species, you humans have some of the most peculiar formalities about it," Choxin warbled as Natsu willed his cheeks back to their normal tan hue before lifting his head up.

"Could we please stop talking about it?"

"I agree. Settle down everyone. Time for our company meeting."

Dekklin's tone was one that brokered no argument and Vern and Wres quickly killed their laughter before taking seats at the commons table. Once everyone's attention was fixed on him, Dekklin cleared his throat before speaking.

"All right, this meeting is mostly for our new test run crewmate," his eyes went to Natsu, "But it doesn't hurt to refresh everyone else's memories."

Dekklin then pulled out a small circular device, clicking a button on it's side before tossing it down on the table. There was a sputter, before a detailed, full-image of a planet popped up in holographic form. The world on display was mostly brown with patches of green and two large seas each at the poles.

"The unassuming dirtball you see before you is called Skardadan, an arid, windswept mining planet that was formerly the capital and only world of the Skardadan Combine. Roughly two months ago, Skardadan was besieged and subsequently invaded by the Xeytovians, specifically the troops of the Duchy of Kizzelsvex. They smashed the Skardadan Navy and have set up a blockade of the world and though they've occupied the capital and some important territories, the locals have put up a pretty fierce resistance and most of the planet is an active warzone."

Natsu watched attentively as multiple areas of the planet's surface lit up in flashing red, many of them quite large. He was having a hard time imagining a conflict so fierce and large that it was waged over an entire world, but that was apparently a trivial thing in this dimension.

"Now this is where we come in. The Skardadan Combine, or rather a very wealthy friend of them, has hired us to make a run of cargo to resistance forces here," the projection zoomed into one of the red zones in the planet's northern hemisphere, until it stopped when a significant settlement built in a lightly forested valley came into view, "A town called Nakrara. After we deliver the cargo, we bolt out back to here, where our client will provide us with our full payment, along with a bonus if we don't lose any cargo. The job is paying a lot, but as you can plainly see, our drop-off sight is in the middle of an active battle. We've done worse hot runs, but I want everyone to be extra careful. This pay means nothing if we lose someone or the _Albatross_ gets blown to bits. Now, any questions?"

There was a brief moment of silence as Natsu tried to think of what to ask first. He had so many questions, but Wres was the first to ask.

"Any further intel on the blockade? Anything on the ground we might need to look out for?"

Dekklin shook his head. "No further intel, Duke Gresslz's instituted a media quarantine that's working surprising well. Despite that, the blockade is something we should be able to handle and aside from the standard AA complement and some underequipped Xeytovian infantry, I can't imagine there would be anything too worrisome on the planet. With any luck, we can get in quick and quiet."

"What's the cargo?"

Everyone turned to stare at Natsu, who didn't flinch from the attention, even when Vern started to snicker.

"Shit I forgot you're still a total noob at this!"

"Shut it Vern, I've been delivering packages for over a week now without ever knowing what they are. I don't like going in blind, not on this stuff."

Dekklin shot Vern a harsh glare and the redhead stopped laughing in an instant, straightening his posture in his chair while doing so. Dekklin then turned his attention to Natsu.

"Natsu, let me give you a good piece of runner's advice. If the client doesn't tell you what you're running, you're probably better off not knowing, Clients get cagey if you ask to many questions, especially if you're running jobs out in the Empire. You get my drift?"

"Yeah, I don't agree with it, but I get it," Natsu said, meeting Dekklin's glare as Happy nervously played with his paws, not liking the tension between the two.

"Right. If you must know, where running guns and medicine to the Skardadan resistance. High-quality weapons straight from the Imperial armories, not the knock-off shit they make out here in the Edge. It'll give them a nice advantage against the Xeytovians, if that helps ease that high and mighty conscience of yours,"Dekklin said dismissively before turning to the rest of his crew, "Any other questions? No? Then everyone get to your stations and let's get this bird in the air and on the way to our payday."

Natsu and Happy watched as the rest of the Albatross crew got up from their seats, Vern heading to engineering with Choxin, while Wres was heading to the Albatross' cargo bay and Lynn started towards the cockpit. There was a sense of urgency even though none of them were running and Natsu then came to the sinking realization that they were going to be flying soon.

"Aw crap," he said despairing, causing Happy to look up at his friend in concern.

"What's wrong Natsu? Did the mean man get to you?"

"No, I just realized where going to be flying, probably for days. I'm starting to get sick just thinking about it."

Natsu held his mouth as he felt his stomach churning at the mere thought, before he saw Dekklin's closed fist shove something near his face, something with a white cap on it. Natsu composed himself as best he could as he grabbed the item from Dekklin. It was a pale orange cylinder, filled with pills. Natsu's confusion must have been evident on his face, because Dekklin let off a frustrated sigh before explaining.

"They're motion sickness pills. Vern and Wres told me about your bus incident and I'll be damned if you're going to puke all over my ship."

Natsu and Happy looked at the pills with a bit of unbelieving wonder before Natsu's eyes went back to Dekklin. "Thanks. That actually means a lot."

"Don't thank me yet, you still need to not fuck up on this run. Now swallow those and get up to the cockpit, where I can keep an eye on you," Dekklin then turned, heading towards the cockpit with the Lynn.

"Was he actually trying to be nice?" Happy questioned as Natsu looked at the container, reading the recommended dosage of two, laughing mentally, before popping open the lid and downing six of them.

"Oh gods, these things taste awful," Natsu aid as he scraped his tongue along his arm, trying to get the taste out before replying back to his little furry companion, "I don't think Dekklin knows how to be nice, but that was probably the best he could do. Might as well head up to the cockpit, see how they fly this thing."

"Aye sir!"

Natsu started to head towards the cockpit, Happy following him. Going down the main connection hall, Natsu hit the access code on the cockpit's door, which beeped happily before opening.

Natsu had only been inside the cockpit once, when he had been given his first official tour of the ship form Vern and Wres. The cockpit was small, though not all that cramped. Natsu could see the hangar out the ultraglass main window in front of him. There were eight screens up next to the window, which took up quite a bit of the front of the room, that showed different feeds from the ship's cameras. Up next to the window was the control console, which stretched form one wall to the other, filled with buttons, switches, and displays of all sizes and colors. There were two black seats, made from zevrogian leather and styled for maximum comfort, up next to the console. Dekklin was currently in the seat on the left, while Lynn was occupying the one on the left. They both appeared to be very busy hitting various buttons and switches, though Lynn did shoot Natsu a friendly smile.

"Steering is good, navigation looks good, how's things looking on your end Lynn?"

"Sensors and comms are good Dekklin. As soon as Vern gives the all-clear on the engine, we should be ready for takeoff," Lynn said coolly, before adopting a warmer tone with Natsu, "Ready for your first spaceflight wizard boy?"

Natsu's stomach went a little queasy at the mention of flight, but the pills he took seemed to be having an effect, as the churning wasn't nearly as powerful. Steeling himself, he answered her.

"Yeah, totally. I'm all fired up," he said weakly as Vern's voice came over the ship's PA system.

"Engine and Jump Drive are all green! She's ready to fly at any time!"

"Cargo is secured Captain. Ready for takeoff here."

"Medical bay is fully operational and ready to go at a moment's notice Captain."

"This is Dekklin, I'm engaging the engines," he looked to Lynn, who nodded as he hit three button in succession before turning a switch. Natsu's advanced hearing could pick up the exact moment the fuel in the engines ignited, could feel the raw power flowing through the rest of the ship as holographic displays lit up all along the ship's console.

"Lynn get in touch with Haven Control, get us a clear flight path," he shot a glace at a wide-eyed Natsu and Happy, "You two, watch me closely. If things go to shit real quick out there, every member of the crew is supposed to be able to pilot the _Albatross_. We don't have time to give you a proper crash course, so just watch what I do and try to commit it to memory."

"You're trusting us to fly the ship?" Natsu blinked in surprise, "That's awesome!"

"No, I'm not. This is just in case things take a turn for the absolute worse on this job, that's all."

"Aye sir, we won't let you down!"

Dekklin sighed to himself as Lynn tapped his shoulder and gave him the thumbs up. Seeing the all-clear signal, he put power into the mini-maneuvering thrusters that lined the ship and started to gently lift off.

Natsu felt his stomach heave and for a split second, thought he was going to cover the back of Dekklin and Lynn's heads with his vomit, but it subsided as quickly as it came. The pills must have been stronger than he thought. Happy was studying his taller friend, wondering if he would have to bolt out of the way of any projectile vomit but upon seeing Natsu didn't look queasy gave him a salute.

"Hey Natsu! You didn't get sick at all!"

"Hell yeah I didn't! This medicine is freaking awesome!" Natsu exclaimed as he pulled the pills out, looking as if he was about to start bowing down and worshipping them.

"Hate to interrupt you two," came Lynn's amused voice, "But you might want to look at the screens, being first time spacers and all."

Natsu and Happy turned to the main window and both of their jaws dropped. Before them was Haven City in all it's sprawling glory, a mass of ultracrete and durasteel where skyscrapers towered over entire neighborhoods like illuminated giants. The sun was just now starting to peak over, though that didn't seem to matter to the ever flowing streams and tendrils of air traffic, as speeder cars and trucks flew nonstop. Natsu could even see the expanse of the ocean as the _Albatross_ continued to climb higher into the sky.

"This is amazing! You can see the ocean! Think of all the fish in there!" Happy's eyes were practically sparkling.

"It is a hell of a view," Natsu agreed before a frown appeared on his face. _Lucy would love this,_ he thought sadly, _Not too much longer though. I'll find you and everyone else._

The cityscape gradually got smaller and smaller as the Albatross continued to climb higher into the atmosphere and Natsu couldn't help but be awestruck as the ship punched through clouds, picking up more and more speed until the clouds disappeared completely.

"Alright we're entering the mesosphere, I'm hitting the main engines now," Dekklin said into the ship's intercom before grabbing what looked like a shifter on the console and slowly pushing it forward.

"You two might want to fine something to hold on to," Lynn said without turning her head. Natsu and Hay didn't have time to respond before Dekklin gunned the engines and Natsu felt himself falling backwards into the door with a thud. Happy hadn't fared any better, though he did manage to land in the comparatively soft region of Natsu's stomach, instead of reinforced durasteel. They were stuck there for a several seconds before the force holding them there subsided enough for Natsu to pry himself off the door.

"Dammit, you guys could have warned me-" Natsu stopped mid sentence as he floated in the air for a second as he took a step, "Woah."

"Exiting atmosphere in three, two," Dekklin voiced into the intercom as Natsu started to float in the air again, along with Happy, who reacted to the newfound weightlessness by trying to swim in the air around the cockpit. Natsu reacted to the zero gravity by trying to walk forward, only to start spinning upside-down.

"I don't think I like this," Natsu said as he bumped into the back of Lynn's chair, who didn't seem to even acknowledge the disturbance as she punched a holographic keypad on her side of the console.

"Coordinates for Jump point entered, Dekklin. Usual place. Haven Control likes to keep things simple," she said as she gently pushed Natsu's pink head out of her personal space sending him slowly careening back towards the door.

"Good. I'm initiating grav-generators now," was all he said as he hit another button and Natsu and Happy let out surprised yelps as gravity suddenly became a very real thing again and their bodies were in a hurry to meet the ground again. Natsu managed to land on his stomach, but Happy wasn't so lucky, instead landing nose first into the corner of the control console, eliciting a scowl from Dekklin but not much else.

"Why didn't we have the gravity turned on before we left?" Natsu asked resentfully as he massaged his chin. Dekklin opened his mouth to say something but Lynn interrupted whatever was abut to come out of his mouth.

"Grav-generators eat up a lot of power, which means we can't break atmosphere with them on. Plus they add another couple G's if you turn them on a surface that already has gravity. It's enough to floor anyone not from a high-grav world," Lynn tuned as she said that before scooping up the dazed Happy and plopping him in her lap.

"I guess that makes sense," Natsu conceded as his eyes happened to notice that the display screens where now showing the planet of Haven itself, along with its single moon. It was almost surreal, seeing the very world he had just been on not even ten minutes before hand. It seemed so small and it kept getting smaller as the _Albatross_ made its way to the Jump Zone in between Haven and its gas giant neighbor of Solitude.

"We'll be at the Jump coordinates within a few minutes. Skardadan is about half a day's Jump away, so while we're on route, we'll give you a crash course on what you can do around the ship ,"Lynn said as she petted Happy's head, eliciting a comfort-filled sigh from the little blue Exceed.

"That would be nice, I'd rather not just stand here all day doing nothing," Natsu said as he folded his arms as Dekklin brought the ship to an empty area of space and hit a button that cause a protective layer of armor to come out and cover the windows. The camera feeds shut off as well as Dekklin spoke into the intercom again.

"Commencing Jump to Ezerkan System. Make sure to keep an eye on your sensors in case something breaks or starts to have feedback."

Natsu became alarmed as he felt a surge of magic, powerful and thick, wash out from the ship's engines, shooting past him with enough force that he almost fell over. Happy got hit by it as well though in Lynn's arms he wasn't going anywhere. It was then that Natsu felt the _Albatross_ being pulled, guided was the better word, towards the magic's destination and though the ship did not shutter or sway, he could feel them darting forward at light-speed for the briefest of seconds before the feeling went away.

Dekklin and Lynn studied some readouts on their consoles before getting up out of the chairs and stretching, Lynn setting Happy down. Dekklin leaned over to the intercom, as more holo-displays flashed green.

"Jump was successful. We will be in Skardadan's inner Jump zone in eleven point three hours. That is all." Dekklin then looked over to Natsu before gesturing to the command seat.

"We got eleven hours to show you how not to crash. Get over here so we can get started."

"Up! Up! You need to pull up!"

"I'm trying but it won't go! Ah crap."

Lynn sighed, trying not to lose her patience like Dekklin had a few hours ago as Natsu crashed the virtual _Albatross_ into yet another skyscraper, destroying millions of credits worth of virtual property.

"Okay, how about we just stop for now," the tired resignation in Lynn's voice made Natsu's face fall, "If everything goes well you shouldn't even be near this console for this run. Just relax for now, we should be Jumping out of FTL soon."

"I think I can get the hang of it if you let me try again!" Natsu begged, sending pleading eyes Lynn's way, but the raven-haired woman shook her head.

"Just let it go for now. We'll get you flight ready soon, don't worry."

"Okay," Natsu said dejectedly, "Though it doesn't seem like Captain Hardass is going to let me try again if he has a say in it."

"Aye sir! He was mumbling some mean things under his breath," Happy agreed as he got on all fours and stretched. Lynn frowned as she reclined into her co-pilot's chair.

"Don't let Dekklin get to you. He can't help being an asshole sometimes. He runs a tight crew and yeah it can be annoying, but it's saved our asses in the past more than once. He means well, he just goes about it the only way he knows how," she said as Natsu and Happy gave her skeptical looks.

"Yeah well he could be less of a dick about it. He runs the place like it's a military ship," Natsu huffed as slipped out one of the spare vokken jerky sticks he had snagged from the ship's pantry out of his pocket and pulled the wrapper off, before taking a huge bite out of it.

"Well that's probably because Dekklin is military. Or was at any rate," Lynn said as Natsu choked on his jerky before Happy patted him hard on the back.

"He's a soldier? What's he doing out here then?" Natsu asked as a beeping from one of the consoles commanded Lynn's attention.

"He wasn't a soldier. He was an officer in the Imperial Navy. A captain. Commanded a heavy destroyer, won a couple of medals while on the Vetexllian Front. Had a real promising career," Lynn said as she typed away on her console.

"He was in the Empire? But he hates the Empire, never says anything even remotely good about them," Natsu said, confused. Lynn shrugged.

"He left. The only person that knows why is Choxin and that's because he was the chief medical officer on Dekklin's destroyer. They don't talk about it and if you're smart Natsu, you won't ask about it."

"Choxin too? You guys have all kinds of secrets on this ship don't you?" Natsu gave a cheeky grin as Lynn rolled her eye before another beep took her attention.

"Looks like it's game time. You two ready for your first run?" She said as she tapped the ship's intercom, "We're exiting our Jump in ninety seconds everyone. It's showtime."

"Roger that, I'll be on the bridge in twenty," Dekklin's voice came over the speakers, "Everyone else get set. We still got a blockade to run."

"Might want to get out of his chair," Lynn said as holograms lit up on her consoles.

"Yeah, yeah. Captain Asshole needs his captain chair," Natsu mumbled, getting up as Dekklin arrived on the bridge. He didn't say a word to Natsu as he took a seat, grabbing the control stick as Natsu could feel the familiar wave of magic crash over him again, though this time he was ready for it. The ship lurched, before the armored shutters over the windows retracted and camera feeds started coming online again. They were back in real space it seemed and Natsu could see a planet in the distance, though it looked about the size of a golf ball, a nondescript brown.

"Exit was clean," Lynn said, "Vern how's our engines?"

"Purring like a kitten," Vern's voice answered back over the intercom, "Maneuvering thrusters are all set to go, you just got to give them the juice up there."

"Affirmative, let's get away from our entry site before the Xeytovian's send a scout to investigate," Dekklin said as he activated the ship's engines and they started to push forward into the void, "Lynn, once the stealth systems are online, give me a read-out on the blockade."

Natsu watched as more similar sounding orders and status reports flew back and forth between the two and he had to at least give Dekklin a bit of credit. The man certainly seemed like a professional. They were steadily gaining speed, the planet in front of them growing steadily larger, enough for Natsu's keen eyesight to make out two small orbiting circles, most likely moons.

"Long range sweep is done Dekklin," Lynn's voice was all business as well, "Looks like sixteen corvette class vessels, nine frigate class, three destroyers, and one light cruiser." Natsu frowned. He didn't know much about military strategy, much less weird cross-dimensional warfare, but twenty-nine ships seemed like a really small amount to blockade a whole planet with.

"Only twenty-nine? That doesn't seem like a whole lot of ships to cover a whole planet with," Natsu decided to make his opinion known, hoping he didn't get an angry lecture from Dekklin for it.

"It's not, but this isn't an official invasion from the Xeytovian Empire. These are Duke Gresslz's private forces and since he's acting on his own he can only spare so much of his duchy's fleet," Dekklin said as they continued to speed forward, "The good Duke can't afford to leave his home territory undefended, since he isn't too popular in the imperial court at the moment. He has just enough ships here to cover the major cities and starports and that's it. Works in our favor though, there will huge gaps in their interdiction screen."

"So wait, let me get this straight, this Duke guy is invading all on his own, while his own people are mad at him? Why is he even here? Didn't you say this planet wasn't really valuable," Natsu asked as Happy took a seat on his shoulder, also curious to the answer.

"The Xeytovians have a feudal society, something you should be familiar with," Dekklin said mockingly, earning a glare from Natsu, "The nobles are free to do whatever they want as long as they answer the emperor's call and pay tribute to the capital. Duke Gresslz, from what my sources in Xeytovian space are saying, is hoping to offer Skardadan as personal gift to the Xeytovian Emperor. My guess is he's hoping that doing that will regain him some favor and keep his serpentine neck off the chopping block. Skardadan itself isn't that valuable, but it's close to Haven and is friends with the Ultanar Federation. It's more about sending a message that no one in the Edge is safe from the Xeytovian Empire."

"So all those people down there are dying and fighting because some noble that's not even from their planet is trying to earn brownie points," Natsu's voice had dropped and was filled with a barely restrained anger, "That's not right. Somebody ought to pay him a beating."

Dekklin actually turned from his chair and looked Natsu straight in the eyes, meeting his fiery anger with cold intimidation. "This is not our fight and you will not go charging off to save the day when we hit the ground. Is that clear?"

Natsu retuned his glare, but calmed himself a bit before just nodding, not trusting himself to say anything polite at this point. Dekklin didn't say anything else, just returned his attention to the screens when Lynn announced one of the corvettes was breaking formation and heading their way, undoubtedly to investigate the Jump Portal that had probably lit up the Xeytovian's sensors.

"He's right Natsu," Happy said quietly into Natsu's ear, "This Duke guy sounds like a real jerk, but this isn't our home and we need to focus on finding Lucy, Carla, and the others."

"Yeah I know, but if the chance comes up, I'm going to take it," was all Natsu said as sensor warning went off in the bridge, drawing the wizard and Exceed's attentions.

"He's getting close, going to pass us on the port side, at about twelve thousand klicks," Lynn said, as Dekklin gritted his teeth.

"Shit, that's close enough for his scopes to pick us up on visual. Vern, get ready to divert everything to the engines, we might have to book it hard and fast to the surface if we get spotted."

"I thought we were in stealth mode? Doesn't that mean he can't see us?" Natsu was really starting to hate being confused. Maybe he should have actually read a bit more of that online encyclopedia instead of looking up animal and food videos.

"Stealth only masks us from sensors. Hides our heat signatures, life signs. But anybody can look out a window and still see us. Or from a high-powered telescopic sensor. We just have to hope that he misses us while looking through all of this empty space," Lynn answered as the holographic representation of the corvette continued to move forward being almost directly across from the Albatross. On the port camera feed, Natsu watched as a zoomed in and enhanced visual feed of the Xeytovian corvette was brought up.

The ship didn't look that big, though the onscreen info said it was three hundred and ninety-five feet long. It looked like some sort of deep sea creature to Natsu, a sleek, slightly bulbous craft of green and ivory, with long sharp sensor towers coming off the back end of it. Five engines were pushing it forward, glowing a bluish-white and Natsu thought he could make out a few structures on it that looked like guns. There was a tense few minutes of silence as the ships passed each other by, but the Xeytovian vessel continued onward and Natsu heard both Dekklin and Lynn breathe a sigh of relief.

"Corvette is continuing onwards, looks like we snuck by," Lynn said before speaking up again, "Dekklin, you saw that ship's readouts right?"

"Yeah, it was _Ryzerkzian_ -class," Dekklin smiled, "A veritable relic. And if I were a betting man, I'd put big money on the rest of the blockade fleet being just as old. Getting past this ought to be something even your stray can do."

Natsu bristled at Dekklin's less than endearing term for him but a look from Happy cooled his temper as the Albatross continued to speed forth, Skardadan growing ever larger, to the point Natsu could make out the small dots that were the Xeytovian blockade fleet.

"Making final approach to Skardadan," Dekklin announced on the intercom, "Looks like there's a nice gap on the starboard of the far frigate we can slip in with. That ought to lead straight to Nakrara and our drop-off point."

"I've patched into the Xeytovian battle-net Dekklin," Lynn said, her face grim, "Sorted through their chatter. Looks like Nakrara is getting overrun. Locals are putting up a hell of a fight but the Xeytovians are starting to overwhelm them. We got a secondary meeting point?"

"Well that's just fucking peachy," Dekklin snarled, "We haven't even landed and things are going to shit. No there wasn't a secondary point. Which means this is really going to be a hot run." He turned to Natsu and Happy, frustration and annoyance on his face.

"You two, quit standing around like a bunch of morons. Go see Wres, get a gun off of him. I know you're mages, but your going to need a bit of extra firepower."

"Aye sir!" Happy saluted as Natsu frowned. Guns weren't his thing. But the look on Dekklins face would give Erza a run for her money, so he obliged, grumbling but also feeling a bit of excitement.

It had been a while since he had been in a decent fight.

* * *

She didn't know how long she had been walking through the sand. Days at least. She was so thirsty, her pale skin had turned an angry, painful red in so many spots and she wasn't at all dressed for the weather. Her magic was running dangerously low. If she didn't find help soon… she pushed it out of her mind. Put another tired foot forward.

The mirage up ahead looked like a town. So had the other five. But maybe this one was real. She needed it to be real. Maybe her friends were there. They had to be worried about her. She was worried about them, one in particular. Maybe he would be there and he would finally sweep her into his arms and cry out how much he loved her.

Another step forward and she felt her strength drain, the glare of twin suns bearing down on her. Another step and she fell face first into the burning hot sand. She was so tired and resting sounded so good.

Her vision became hazy, red sky and the golden sand blending together, with five long shadows creeping towards her. Maybe they were townspeople coming to see who had fallen. Maybe they were reapers, come to take her dying soul to the next life. Or maybe it was her friends, come to rescue her. She liked that idea.

As the shadows got closer and the world became darker, she found the only thing she could thing of was having his lips on her for the first time.

 _Where are you?_ she thought, _Why haven't you saved me yet?_

* * *

 **Excerpts from the Encylopedias Imperalis, Reminding all Imperial Citizens to report any seditious activities to Imperial State Security or to local authorities. Praise the Emperor and the Empire!**

 **Government, Ultanar Federation:** _A star nation located in Edge Space, the Ultanar Federation, so named for its capital and founding world of Ultanar, is a federal democratic republic of over a thousand worlds hat have come together for mutual defense, trade, and cultural exchange. Diverse and relatively advanced for a degenerate Edge society, the Federation is one of the premier powers in that lawless region of space and is a popular destination for traitors to the Empire who prefer lives of chaotic freedom over security and safety in our Great Empire. The Federation itself is often at odds with it's neighbors, especially the Great and Holy Xeytovian Empire and the Grand Abraxian Coalition. The Federation is currently fighting a war to reclaim the worlds of the Scarcean Drift from the Marralian warlords of the Coalition and is notorious in the region for drafting passerby to fight their wars for them. Imperial socoioloigts do not expect this aberrant government to last much longer under current conditions._

 **Species, Yendari:** _A reptilian, lizard-like species from the world of Roganus in the Imperial Outer Provinces, the Yendari are humanoid in shape and are close to the human standard in weight and height. However, Yendari posses a hardiness to both heat and disease thanks to the swampy nature of their homeworld and are on average more perceptive than humans, though the Yendari tend to have slightly below human intelligence. Their society is a tribal one, that places a lot of precedence on one's ability to contribute to the greater good. Yendari work and strive not to better themselves, but the tribe as a whole. The Yendari had only managed to set up a few offworld colonies in their home star system when they were discovered by the Empire some nine hundred and fifty years ago. The Empire modernized and uplifted the Yendari who joined our society quickly and today Yendari can be found throughout the galaxy working a variety of jobs, from freighter crewmen to small business owners to serving in the Imperial Army and Navy._

 **Technology, Jump Drives:** _Considered to be the most important invention in the galaxy, the Jump Drive was originally invented by the Sindari on Aos Sidhe some two millennia ago, though other races have managed to independently invent it as well. The Jump Drive is how galactic society functions, as t is what enables faster-than-light travel. All Jump Drives are magitech, as they are great mathematical computers filled with arcane cores that generate energy to rip open wormholes in space-time. These wormholes allow ships that enter the Jumpstream, q dimension used to travel great distances in time spans measuring hours or days. Jump Drives are notoriously finicky however and many ships over the years of Jump use have been torn apart in transit, phased into different dimensions or just plain disappeared into the Jumpstream. Still, faster-than-light travel is not possible without Jump Drives and they are present on all but the smallest ships, shuttles and fighters mostly._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 **Airspace above Nakrara, Planet Skardadan, Ezerkan System, Disputed Territory, Edge Space**

Natsu could feel his motion sickness pills starting to wear off. Or at least he thought they were. It was hard to tell when you were strapped into crash webbing trying not to vomit your guts out as the sixty-foot-long starship you were on performed barrel rolls, loops, and sudden turns at speeds that were mildly concerning, as Wres had put it when he had strapped Natsu and Happy into the commons emergency webbing.

Happy was currently screaming every time the _Albatross_ ducked and weaved through atmosphere of Skardadan, her pilots doing their best to avoid the constant stream of anti-air fire pouring up from the Xeytovian fortifications below. They had snuck through the blockade with little issue, but apparently, they had buzzed past a Xeytovian dropship as they screamed through the atmosphere and a general alert had been sent out to the ground forces near Nakrara. Or at least that's what Wres had hurried told Natsu as he had strapped him in and told him not to die.

 _No more spaceship flights for me_ , Natsu thought with revulsion as he swallowed bile down as the ship went into another high-speed roll, _I'm going to stay on the ground where its safe._

"Natsu! I want off this crazy thing!" Happy screamed as they felt the Albatross accelerate downward. Natsu went to reply before another surge of vomit coming up his throat convinced him that opening his mouth right now probably wasn't the best idea.

"Drop zone is in sight!" Dekklin's agitated voice came over the ship's intercom, "ETA is seventy seconds. Drop zone is hot. Weapons free as soon as we hit the ground!"

Natsu heard the heavy thud of boots and turned to see Wres coming up from the cargo bay, loaded down with ammo clips, what looked like an assault rifle slung over his shoulder and a quartet of pistols in various holsters. The Yendari came up right to them, hurriedly hitting the emergency release on both of their webbing. Natsu woozily fell out, while Happy landed on his feet, desperately trying to grab ahold of anything on the floor as the _Albatross_ reared up. Even disoriented as he was, Natsu thought he could hear a hissing, popping sort of sound and high-pitched whines outside of the ship. He hadn't even stopped being dizzy before Wres' reptilian hands shoved a heavy caliber pistol into his chest, which he grabbed awkwardly.

"Shake off that jetlag Natsu, we got a welcome party waiting as soon as the doors open!" Wres' voice was filled with urgency but no panic, "Follow my lead and try not to die."

"Gotcha," Natsu replied, regaining his bearings as he scooped Happy off the floor and tucked the pistol into his pocket, having no intentions of using it, "It's been too long since I was in a real fight!"

The ship shook slightly as Natsu felt it touch down and now that he wasn't trying to keep vomit down, he could hear what sounded like a full-on barrage of something hitting the _Albatross_ ' shields outside. Following Wres back down into the cargo bay, Dekklin's voice came out over the intercom again.

"We're on the ground! Eleven hostiles right outside our doors! Wres, Natsu, I'm going to open the cargo bays! Storm out and kill those snakes! Me and Lynn are going to be right behind you!"

"Copy that Captain," Wres said into the comm unit attached to his chest, "You heard the man Natsu. Down into the bay and out!"

"Right behind you!" Natsu said as he followed Wres down, both of them practically sliding down the ladder from the commons into the bay. The door was already opening when they hit the durasteel floors. The cargo had been secured onto the sides, hopefully out of the initial volley of fire sure to come through the door. Natsu's heart was racing, his blood boiling. Flames engulfed his hands. He was ready.

The door got halfway open before bolts of green fizzling, hissing energy impacted on the _Albatross_ 's still active shields. Natsu tensed and Wres swore.

"Shit, these guys are rocking plasma weapons. So much for being underequipped. Watch yourself Natsu," Wres said as the door finally opened, extending the landing ramp and giving Natsu his first view of Skardadan.

It looked like Hell. Before him was a town, or at least what was left of a town. Most of the buildings, which looked disturbing similar to the architectural style used in Magnolia, were burnt out or missing chunks of themselves, there were piles of rubble everywhere and the sky looked like it was on fire. There were explosions of red, purple, and green everywhere up above, but more bright green bolts of energy impacting the shields tore Natsu's attention back to the ground.

The _Albatross_ had landed in what looked like an old parking lot, if the burnt out and crushed ground cars were any indication. There were craters all throughout the concrete pad and taking cover in some of the craters and behind a few cars were aliens. They were snake like, only having two arms as their only appendages, but that was the most Natsu could make out, as they were encased from head to tail in orange and white armor, their polarized face plates keeping their features hidden from view. Natsu could make out nine of them in total, the furthest away looked to be about forty feet, the closest ten or so. Perfect striking distance.

"Smokes out! Go! Go! Go!" Wres shouted as he threw out two canisters that were spiraling out smoke like miniature chimneys. The shields must have dropped just as they were about to cross, but another plasma bolt dissipated right before the grenades went through. Both Natsu and Wres charged forward, Natsu with his fists ignited and Wres already having his rifle tight, firing bursts into the rapidly expanding smoke cloud. More plasma bolts flew by both of them, one of them passing by a few feet from Natsu's torso, the heat on it enough to singe his clothes and arm hair.

Natsu grinned ferally as Happy held tightly to his shoulder as he jumped over another bolt, landing behind a pair of Xeytovians who had set up firing positions on the burnt-out sedan in front of the cargo bay. The two serpentine aliens barely had time to turn their heads around in confusion and alarm before Natsu grabbed both by the necks and slammed their heads down onto the ruined vehicle as hard as he could. There was the satisfying crack of their visors glass and Natsu channeled his magic into his fists, the dragon flame engulfing the heads of the now screaming Xeytovians. Another forceful crunch into the car and the screaming abruptly stopped. Natsu released his grip on the now limp aliens, satisfied that the two weren't going to be a threat anymore.

 _Onto the next ones!_ Natsu thought excitedly to himself as the sounds of battle raged around him. Hissed shouts of anger from the Xeytovians, Wres calling out targets to the newly arrived Dekklin and Lynn, plasma bolts fizzing and exploding while Wres and Dekklin hammered one of the cars with assault rifle fire, forcing the Xeytovians to keep their heads down. It was chaotic, it was deadly, it was loud, but it made Natsu's blood rush.

There, trying to slither out of the crater, were another pair of Xeytovians, both of them aiming their plasma rifles towards Wres and Dekklin's position. Natsu didn't give them the chance.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" a stream of mana-fueled flames erupted from Natsu's mouth, sweeping over the unsuspecting aliens. There were shrieks of horror before the two exploded, the flames having cooked off the grenades in on their midsections. Cooked pieces of armor and Xeytovian soared by him, but Natsu was already storming forward as more bolts of green energy splashed into the pavement around him, exploding with hissing pops that sent steaming asphalt and concrete shards everywhere.

"The pink one is a sorcerer! Drop him now!" over the clamor Natsu managed to pick out the grating mechanical voice of one of the Xeytovians and sure enough more plasma bolts came his way. He rolled into of the craters, before springing up over the edge, laughing to himself.

"Go ahead and try! A snake can't defeat a dragon!" Natsu taunted back, rolling out of the way as more plasma bolts sailed his way. He ended up near another ruined ground car, one that had taken a few plasma bolts, if the blown-out chunks and immense amount of heat radiating from it where anything to go by. His ears perked up when he heard a bouncing, clanging sound and looked down to see a grenade land by his feet.

"Oh shi-" was all he got out before the explosive erupted into a blast of concussive force, heat, and shrapnel. Natsu felt himself getting flung into the air by the force, landing hard enough on the concrete to knock the wind out of him. He struggled to get up before he felt someone grab him by his shoulders and lift him back into the air, the sound of furious wing beats being barely overheard over the crackle of plasma bolts.

"Hold on, I got you Natsu!" Happy shouted as he ducked and weaved as the Xeytovians continued to fire on them, desperately trying to shoot the two down before Natsu could recover. A near-miss had Happy shriek in pain as angry red burns appeared on his skin, causing Natsu's blood to boil.

"Nobody hurts my little buddy!" he shouted, feeling the energy of his rage rejuvenate him, "Happy, toss me at those snakes!"

"Aye sir!"

Happy barrel-rolled before looping around to the group of three Xeytovians, who looked to be the last ones left standing. They had gone back into cover next to a crumbling parking barrier as Wres, Dekklin, and Lynn peppered them with suppressive fire, with one of the serpentine aliens looking wounded, bright purple blood leaking out from a puncture wound on its midtail. The aliens managed to let off shouts of warning as they saw the rapidly incoming forms of Natsu and Happy but weren't able to raise their rifles in time.

"Fire Dragon's Claw!"

Natsu slammed into two of the unwounded Xeytovians feet-first, fire dancing from his engulfed legs onto the armored aliens, where it clung to them, causing hisses and screeches as they desperately tried to put out the flames. One of them slithered out into the open it its desperation, only to be cut down in a hail of concentrated gunfire. Natsu dived into the cement as the bleeding Xeytovian fired its rifle at him, instead missing the Dragon Slayer and hitting his only-remaining comrade in the chest, blowing apart armor and flesh and sending the still aflame alien crashing hard into the cement. Natsu growled, taking advantage of the alien's horrified confusion at shooting one of its own before leaping up into a flaming uppercut.

'Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted as his fist connected with the chin of the Xeytovian, knocking the alien up with the sheer force before he grabbed it by its still bleeding tail and slammed it hard into the concrete barrier. He could hear both armor plates and bones snapping, and the alien went limp as it lay on the ground, its rifle slipping from its three fingered hands.

"Yeah that's what I'm talking about! I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted, pumping his fist up as Happy landed beside him, grimacing as the pain from his burns started to set in now that the adrenaline rush was going away.

"Clear! All contacts are done!" Wres shouted out as he moved from Xeytovian to Xeytovian body, moving on if they were a corpse and putting a bullet into them if they weren't, "Captain, drop zone is clear!"

"Roger! Everyone back to the _Albatross_! Anyone wounded?" came Dekklin as he and Lynn started to head back to the ship from the position by a burnt-out van, "Vern, Choxin, get that cargo ready to unload!"

Natsu, noticing how painful Happy's wounds were, carefully scooped the Exceed up before heading back to the ship. Dekklin was already back on the phone, trying to get ahold of the local contact, while Wres applied some sort of gel to a burn wound on his forearm. The Yendari looked up as Natsu and Happy came closer.

"Spirits Natsu, you're bleeding all over the place! Choxin, get down here! Natsu's wounded!" Wres yelled as Lynn came out form the ship's cargo bay, carrying more gel, looking over to Natsu before her eye went wide.

"Isanada above, are you alright?"

"I think so," Natsu said, some what confused before looking down at himself and suddenly understanding the concern. He was bleeding from quite a few places on his chest, stomach, and legs and now that he was aware of it, he could feel the jagged pricks of pieces of metal lodged inside of him.

"Oh, uh, maybe not," was all he said as Lynn sat him down besides Wres, before taking a teary-eyed Happy from him. He looked down at his little friend, grimacing.

"I'm fine, is Happy going to be okay?" he said as Lynn gingerly laid Happy on his stomach, "He looks bad!"

"Yeah just some second-rate burns from the plasma flying about, he'll be okay as soon as I get this gel on him," Lynn said as she popped open a bottle, "This is going to sting a bit."

"How bad-" Happy let off a pained shriek as Lynn spread some clear blue gel on the burns on his back and side, "Ow ow ow Natsu this hurts so bad!"

"I'm sorry buddy, but its going to heal you, so you just got to bear it!" Natsu said encouragingly as Choxin floated down from the cargo bay, a full medical bag in his hand. He flashed orange as he looked at Natsu.

"Oh dear, you look like a metallic pincushion," the doctor warbled, "Still you seem to be standing and fully consciousness, that's good. I'll administer some local anesthetic and then get those shards out right away."

Natsu nodded as the Glokkin set his bag down and began retrieving a syringe and some medication from it. Natsu surveyed the drop zone as he waited. Purple blood splatters and dead serpentine aliens littered the already battle-scarred parking lot. Natsu wasn't sure how he felt about that. He loved fighting, lived for a good brawl. He wasn't very fond of killing. He recognized that sometimes it was necessary, but he still didn't like doing it himself. Still these aliens had proven themselves to be deadly and ruthless. They had hurt Happy, hurt and killed who knows how many people on this planet. Still, these weren't bandits or mages he could knock out easily. These were trained soldiers who killed for a living.

"Hey, Natsu, I'll hand it to you," Wres brought Natsu out of his thoughts as Choxin jabbed a syringe into his chest, making the whole area go numb, "You're good in a scrap. All that flying about, those maneuvers, definitely kept the snakes off balance. And that magic, I could feel the heat from here. Erased most of my doubts in a couple of seconds."

"Thanks, told you Fairy Tail wizards were the best fighters there are!" Natsu couldn't help the pride that infused his statement, but it was the truth. His grin fell when Wres continued though.

"Before you get to excited it, it was most. Not all. You're fast, but you ran out in the open against soldiers armed with high-powered energy weapons. That's suicidal," Wres said as he bandaged his gelled-up arm, idly watching Choxin as he pulled out shards of shrapnel three or four at a time with his many tentacles, "Second, you got to busy taunting that they snuck a grenade on you, which could have easily killed you. And third, but probably the one I'm the angriest about. You left three of those snakes alive. Make sure you're thorough next time, I don't want to get shot in the back because you didn't make sure the guy was dead."

"We don't kill in Fairy Tail," was all Natsu said, his eyes going dark as he watched Lynn bandage up Happy, "At least we try not to. I'm not a murderer. I like fighting, but I only kill if I absolutely have too."

Nastu frowned as both Wres and Lynn groaned, wincing as Choxin started applying some sort of adhesive on his wounds.

"Kid, if you're going to survive out here in the Edge, you better drop that honorable warrior mindset real fast," Lynn said as she gently plopped Happy into a sitting position, "No faster way to die than to go into a fight thinking like that." Natsu huffed.

"I've never had any issues with it before and I don't plan on changing it anytime soon."

"Yeah well, just don't be surprised if it bites you in the ass real soon and don't try and intervene when we clean up your mess," Wres stated as Dekklin came back over, looking more frustrated by the second. Lynn looked up at him as she sat up from Happy' position by the cargo bay.

"Any news on our contacts Dekklin?"

"Yeah, got ahold of him. Told him either he comes and gets the cargo or we are leaving. He's sending a group out now, they should be here in a few minutes if they don't run into any Xeytovians on the way," Dekklin said as he looked over his crew, noticing Natsu and Happy's injuries.

"You two were reckless, but you didn't put anyone else in danger and helped end the firefight faster, so I'm something approaching pleased with that. Regardless, Wres and Natsu, I need both of you on watch. The snakes are going to regroup and hit this site again soon and Vern's comm scrambler won't keep their air support confused for very long. Our contacts will be here shortly, you two are to keep the snakes off of them until we're in the air and every bit of cargo is off the _Albatross_. Is that understood?"

"Completely captain," Wres nodded, getting up and grabbing his rifle before turning to Natsu, "Come on flame boy, we got some rebels to look after."

"Yeah we do, no one else is getting hurt on my watch," Natsu said as he got up after Choxin finished sealing up his wounds before heading over to a very tired looking Happy.

"I'll be right back little buddy. I promise you I'll get you a nice big tasty fish when we get back to Haven," Natsu smiled at the blue Exceed, who weakly smiled back.

"You better, or I'll tell Lucy how mean you've been to me!" Happy said smugly before worry crossed his face as the sound of artillery and gunfights started echoing out form the rest of the town, "You be careful out there Natsu."

"I will be buddy," Natsu said before popping his neck and joining Wres as they started to make their way out towards the northern streets where the rebels were pressing their way forward. Already the sound of gunfire was making its way out from that direction and Wres and Natsu exchanged concerned looks before bolting forward.

* * *

The rebels were a mixed lot, Humans and Cervanil, Isarang and Kultozian. Dressed in faded camo and civilian clothes, they were busy trying to flank a Xeytovian patrol by the time Natsu and Wres arrived on the scene. Natsu quickly darted forward, weaving in and out of both plasma bolts and gunfire into the bombed out building the Xeytovians were holed up. Ignoring Wres' shouts for the rebels to hold fire, Natsu dived, tackling a Xeytovian into the wall before picking up the surprisingly heavy alien and throwing it as hard as he could into two more on his right. His surprise assault must have caught the remaining three off-guard as they didn't fire at him, before he launched himself at the closest one, five quick jabs shattering the alien's combat visor, revealing a cobra-like scaly face beneath with crimson eyes.

Natsu gut punched the alien as hard as he could, turning on the other two, who had recovered and raised their rifles art him before both of them dropped in splashes of purple as bullets punched into both of their heads. Natsu turned, only to see a gray-skinned Kultozian with a red bandanna on his bulbous head and a dark-skinned human woman with dark curly hair at the entrance of building, smoke still emitting from the barrels of their rifles.

"Damn pinky, takes a serious sack to charge straight into plasma like that," the Kultozian said appreciatively as more rebels stormed into the building. Natsu went to protest as they turned over the stunned and unconscious Xeytovians and executed them but a clawed reptilian hand spun him around until he faced Wres, who just shook his head.

"Reckless bastard. We need to move, Dekklin called. Snakes have a light mech in the area. It'll shred the _Albatross_ if it catches us on the ground. We need to get these guys and gals their stuff and then get the hell out of here," Wres was already moving back to the _Albatross_ , sweeping his rifle to watch the rooftops as he did. Natsu sighed, realizing that arguing about morality here was pointless and potentially lethal. He settled for following the rebels who were now sprinting out of the street into the parking lot, where Vern, Dekklin, and Lynn were already shoving crates on to small anti-grav dollies and handing them to Choxin who was pushing them out into a neat pile outside of the ship.

"Demen and Lefurr, get your teams on pushing those crates back to the rendezvous, Ar'Losj stay in front of them, keep the path clear. The rest of you, help these nice offworlders get the rest of this loot out! Go go go!" the dark-skinned woman from before shouted, her subordinates rushing across the lot to get their assigned tasks completed.

It was an organized chaos for several minutes as Natsu watched as the rebels quickly lashed several dollies and crates together with syntherope before pushing the crates back toward the northern streets. Natsu had to give them credit, they worked fast. It was never ending loop and before he knew it, the rebels had helped off-load the last of the cargo. He joined Wres as they both jogged back to the foot of the ship's ramp, where the rebel leader was talking to Dekklin as the last of her troops began to lash the final load of cargo together for rapid transport.

"Thank you, Captain. I know not many would make this run, when there are so many risks," the woman said respectfully. Dekklin shook his head at her.

"Just part of the job. That's everything as promised. I trust your contact on Haven will still pay even if you don't make it back to confirm?"

Natsu was about to volunteer to escort the rebels back when a bright lance of energy passed over his shoulder, hitting Dekklin in his abdomen. He screamed in pain, collapsing to the ground as Lynn rushed to his side and gunfire erupted from the rebels. Natsu turned, growling as Lynn screamed for Choxin and Vern.

"Sniper! Get down!" came Wres' reply as he started firing towards the genral direction the beam had come from.

His eyes zoomed in to an overhang on the north. There, a Xeytovian with a long gun was already moving to another position. Coming from the west were another five of the snake-like aliens, along with a heavy stomping metallic sound. Natsu bristled as one of the rebels screamed.

"Snake mech, on the west side!"

There was a loud boom as the wall of one of the buildings was blown out, a stomping mechanical machine on two legs walked out. Natsu was already racing towards it, passing by a rebel who took another bright lance shot to the head, coating Natsu with blood-red steam and bits of fizzing brain matter. The mech was orange and ivory in color, similar to the Xeytovian soldiers. It was squat, with two arms jutting off, each one equipped with a different weapon. Natsu could barely make out its pilot form behind a golden windshield as the weapon on its left arm spun up, clearing aiming for him before disgorging a hail of bullets.

"Hit me if you can you walking piece of scrap!" Natsu yelled as he drew upon all of his speed, igniting his fists, doing everything he could to keep the mech's attention on him. If that thing targeted the ship, they were done. The five soldiers beneath the mech also fired on him, lobbing a few grenades before he launched a Fire Dragon's Claw into the nearest alien, flinging the flaming snake into the air before putting all of his power into his lungs.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The jet of flame burst from his mouth, igniting the remaining four Xeytovians aflame and licking at the metal of the mech's legs. The mech backpedaled, before its right arm launched a missile at Natsu. Laughing, Natsu jumped over the shrieking explosive, rolling as he hit the pavement while the missile exploded behind him, sending pieces of concrete and charred Xeytovian into the air. He felt his muscles and lungs burning from the exertion, but he got back up and zig-zagged to avoid the mech's gatling cannon before leaping towards the cockpit of the mech, fist primed and ignited, a determined scowl on his face as he poured every bit of his magic into his last attack.

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"

The windshield exploded as Natsu grabbed ahold of the stunned pilot's neck, before yanking him out, tossing him aside like a rag doll. The Xeytovian hit the ground with a hard thud before Natsu grabbed the control console on the inside of the mech and ripped it out with a grunt, tossing it behind him. He then used the outside of the mech as a springboard to launch himself back to the ground and the momentum sent the bipedal war machine crashing into the pavement with a metallic crunch.

"Natsu! Get back to the ship! We're leaving now!" Wres' voice rang out, bringing Natsu back to his senses. He could see that the rebels were gone, aside from a few bodies on the ground and Wres' was by the ramp of the ship, the micro-thrusters on the wings already primed and activated.

"Shit, I'm on my way!" Natsu yelled back as he sprinted back to the _Albatross_ , feeling exhaustion creep in. He hadn't eaten any fire and he had used a lot of magic at once. He was drained. Still he pressed on, reaching the ramp in less than a minute as Wres' pulled him aboard, the Albatross already starting to lift off.

"Okay, you are one crazy, flame-spewing bastard. You just took out a light mech with your bare hands! Who does that?!" Wres said incredibly as the ramp sealed behind them and Natsu took a moment to catch his breath, "You're still reckless as all hell, but I think I see that style just works for you. Godsdamn."

"Told you," Natsu panted out, "How are the others? Is Dekklin okay?" Natsu frowned as the jovialness from Wres' face disappeared.

"Captain is bad. Took a lance rifle beam straight into the gut. Choxin has him strapped in the med-bay and his working on him now but it's bad. Everyone else is okay though. Go strap yourself in, I got to help Lynn fly this bird," Wres was already moving up the ladder, Natsu following. Emerging in the commons area, he saw that Happy was already strapped into some webbing and he smiled we he saw Natsu.

"You made it back!" the little Exceed shouted in excitement as Wres hurried to the cockpit, the ship already starting to perform evasive maneuvers.

'Of course, I did Happy, who did think I am, Gray?" Natsu laughed as he strapped himself in, next to Happy before the ship shuddered. Happy looked over to Natsu, who just squeezed the little guys hand as he tried to fight off the nausea. He had forgotten to take more of the pills in the confusion and he wasn't feeling so good now. Natsu tried not to vomit before another shudder knocked his head hard against the webbing and all went mercifully black.

* * *

Natsu let out a groan as he sat up, holding his pounding head. It was dark and cool and as his eyes adjusted, he found he was in his cabin. He was on the bottom bunk with his phone next to him. The door was closed and there wasn't any sign of Happy or anyone else.

"Oh wow, was I dreaming that whole thing," he said absentmindedly as he held his head, getting out form the bed, heading for the door. He was starving and thirsty beyond all measure. He opened the door to the commons, momentarily shielding his eyes, before a furry blue ball slammed into him.

"Natsu, you're finally awake!" Happy said as he snuggled into Natsu's chest, much to the bemusement of Vern and Wres, who were sitting at the commons table, nursing beers.

"Well hot damn, you're finally awake," Vern said, "That must have been one hell of a bump your head took. We almost died twice, and you didn't wake up for any of it!"

"Okay I wasn't dreaming then," Natsu said as he sat down next to Wres' as Happy took up his favorite spot on Natsu's head, "What happened? Last I remember we were leaving Skardadan."

"We made off, though just barely. We took a hit from an AA battery, must have been what made you bump your head. Then we got chased by a pair of Xeytovian interceptors. Bastards almost had us too. If it wasn't for the Federation launching a surprise attack on the blockade, I don't think we would have ever shaken those guys," Wres said as he finished off his beer, draping his tail over his lap as he leaned back.

"Wait does that mean-"

"We're back on Haven safe and sound. Lynn's meeting with the client now to get our payment and we're waiting for an opening in the repair bay to fix the damage to the Albatross."

Natsu nodded before he remembered something. He looked at Wres before asking "Wait, is Dekklin alright? He was in bad shape last I remember." Natsu wasn't fond of the gruff, paranoid captain but he didn't want anything bad to happen to the man either.

Vern laughed, "That old bastard. He's good. He won't be leaving Choxin's med-bay for at least a week, but old Doctor Tentacles there knows his stuff. He'll pull through."

Natsu let out a sigh of relief, before his stomach rumbled.

"I need some grub, we got anything here?"

"Yeah we ordered some Quitaran take-out, it's in the fridge," Vern said as he looked over towards the cargo lift, which was rising up, revealing the tired but very pleased looking form of Lynn, "Oh hey, you're back. With our money I hope."

"Yep, talked it over with the client, we even got the bonus for the rebels getting every bit of cargo," she smiled before looking over to Natsu and Happy, who were busy raiding the fridge, "Oh good, you're awake Natsu. You feeling any better?"

Natsu looked over from stuffing a meat-roll into his face and smiled.

"I will once I eat! I'm famished!" Lynn just shook her head good naturedly before walking over to the commons table and setting down three stacks of crysti-chips. She slid two large but equal piles to Vern and Wres, before sliding a smaller stack over to Natsu and Happy. Natsu looked at the crystal chips, confused.

"I don't understand, shouldn't this all go to my debt?" Natsu inquired as Lynn just smiled at him.

"You're all paid off wizard boy. This is your cut. You earned it," she said as Natsu looked stunned. He hadn't done anymore than usual on a normal job, but if his debt was cleared… that meant he was free. He could finally put all his effort and time to finding Lucy and the others and then a way home.

"She's right Natsu," Wres spoke up, "As reckless as you were, you pulled your weight on Skardadan. I'll take you in a firefight any day."

"Guys thank you, this means a lot," Natsu said as he looked at the crysti-chips. There had to be at least six grand here. "With this I can finally start looking for my friends!"

"Actually, we have a proposition for you."

The whole commons tuned to face Dekklin, still covered in bandages and hobbling on a crutch, with a very frustrated Choxin hovering behind him.

"Captain, I musty insist you return to your bed, your wounds are nowhere near healed enough for you to trapeze about!" the doctor's term was firm but Dekklin just scoffed.

"No, I am the captain of this ship and I will give him this offer myself on my own two feet, not confined to the bed like an invalid," the tone in Dekklin's voice brokered no argument as he returned his attention to Natsu and Happy.

"I know I haven't been the most pleasant person to you and for that I do apologize. I don't trust easy, especially for unknowns like you. But you proved yourself today. You saved the ship. If that mech had targeted us, we'd all be dead. For that, you have my thanks."

Natsu wasn't quite sure what to say, not used to seeing this side of the grumpy captain, though Happy was more than willing to answer for him.

"Oh wow, I guess you aren't a total jerk after all!"

There was a moment of stunned silence before Lynn, Wres, and Vern started to snicker as Happy yelped at the seething glower that Dekklin gave him.

"Regardless, I know you want to find you friends. And I fully support you in that. But someone of your talents has a place on my ship. You'll get free room and board, plenty of work opportunities, and I'll help send out feelers for any info on your friends. If you want to that is. I'm not forcing you to join, but I would like if you did," Dekklin's voice was sincere and level and Natsu couldn't help but grin at it.

"Of course, I'll join, you big softie! I knew you really liked me deep down!" Natsu laughed as Dekklin groaned and Vern whooped in joy.

"Aww hell yeah, you know what this means right? We got take our brand-new crew member out for a night of debauchery!" Vern shouted as he stood up and grabbed Natsu by the arm, "Drinks, food, gambling, sexy ladies dancing on us! Let's party it up!"

"But I didn't get to finish eating!" Natsu protested as both he and Happy were taken away by an ecstatic Vern and a bemused Wres out towards the cargo bay, into the nightlife of Haven City. Dekklin let out a pained groan as Choxin lead him back to the med-bay, Lynn following him.

"Thank you, Dekklin. I know that took a lot out of you to be like that in front of everyone," Lynn said softly as she helped Choxin get the captain back into the med-bay bed.

"Yeah well, he won't be around forever. And if he screws up big time, he's out," Dekklin said gruffly, not enjoying the fact that he was going to be stuck here for the better part of a week. Lynn snorted before giving him a light kiss on his forehead.

"Save the tough guy act for the rest of the crew."

* * *

 **Excerpts from the Encylopedias Imperalis, penned by Imperial Warriors of Truth!**

 **Government, Holy Xeytovian Empire:** _Stretching across seven hundred some star systems, the Holy Xeytovian Empire is one of the premier powers of Edge Space. In many ways similar to the true Empire, the HXE is far more feudal government, with the dukes and duchesses having considerable autonomy in conducting their domain's affairs, only paying tribute to the imperial throne and heeding the call to arms when it is issued. This makes the Xeytovians difficult to predict, as each duchy is liable to behave in vastly different ways, adhering to no unified foreign or domestic policy. This has allowed them to swallow up many smaller system-states, thought the Xeytovians traditionally have a far harder time coordinating on a unified front, as their Empire is rife with internal struggles. The Xeytovians also worship their ruling monarch as a direct descendant of their gods, a religion they curiously also force on outsiders who fall under their dominion._

 **Species, Xeytovian:** _The Xeytovians are a reptilian, serpentine species from the arid world of Jannala in the Fe'Dhi System, near the center of Edge Space. Roughly 8 feet long from head to tail, Xeytovians possess cobra-like frills, mildly venomous fangs, an acute sense of smell and no legs, relying on their powerful serpentine bodies for locomotion. They are feudal, factionalist, and highly militarist species of conquerors, though they have only proven to be a threat to the other nations of the Edge. They are rarely seen outside of the Edge, which is for the best, as they brutish culture provides nothing of value to the greater galaxy._

 **Technology, Energy Weapons:** _While projectile weapons are still extremely common across the galaxy, energy weapons are the main armaments of modern militaries. Whether they are standard issue plasma rifles for the Imperial Army, anti-vehicle laser cannons, or particle beam rifles, energy weapons are common on many battlefields. Some criminals and mercenaries employ energy weapons as well, though most prefer the more easily acquired projectile weapons over those commonly used by the military._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 **Haven City, Planet Haven, Mallgar System, Haven Republic, Edge Space**

The Shimmer wasn't the most fancy bar on Haven, but it was probably one of the most frequented in the city. Located just outside Haven's sprawling starport, the Shimmer was constantly filled with spacers, smugglers, mercenaries and other unsavory sorts, drinking, smoking, and carousing. The building was four stories tall, equipped with a fully stocked kitchen and a bar on each level, each fully stocked in thousands of different kinds of alcohol from across the galaxy. Combined with the often attractive and scantily-clad barstaff and dancers, blaring electronica music, and holovision screens showing sporting events, it was a "runner's paradise", at least according to Vern.

Natsu had to admit they had good food and the drinks went down easy. He was currently sitting on well-worn leather stool on at the second-floor bar, nursing a beer and popping fired cheese sticks into his mouth while Happy munched on some sort of fish sandwich beside him. They'd had the day off and Vern had insisted that they come to the Shimmer for a celebratory drink. In reality the redheaded engineer was doing his best to get a slender blue-skinned Remeri waitress' number, attempting to casually saunter up to her when she came close enough to the dance floor that took up most of the second floor. Natsu would be the first to admit that he didn't know much when it came to flirting, much less with aliens, but he had the distinct feeling that Vern wasn't doing too well. He shrugged, drawing his eyes back up to one of the viewing screens, idly watching a rather brutal match of Drachorian blade-ball.

 _I should be out searching and asking for leads, but I'm about out of places to ask on Haven,_ Natsu thought irritably as the bartender deposited another batch of cheese sticks into his basket, _I just have to hope that Tez comes through soon. Lucy and the others can't wait much longer._

It had been three weeks since his first run with the _Albatross_ crew, since he had accepted the full-time invitation work for them. They had been a busy three weeks. Six more runs had sent him across Edge Space with the motley smugglers, into the Ultanar Federation to the war-torn planets of the Scarcean Drift to the shadow-cities of the Umbral Dominion. He had gotten plenty of chances to test his strength against a rival runner crew, Dominion Void Priests, Abraxian Coalition soldiers, and even a very hungry ryphernoc. He had gotten to test fly the _Albatross_ a few times, enough to where he was confident he wouldn't crash the ship. He had earned plenty of money, had a few good times as he bonded with the crew.

He hated it.

Three weeks and not so much as a word of anyone else. He had sunk a good bit of his funds into paying Tez to gather any info he could from across the Edge and the Empire, though as good as the Abexi was, even he had told Natsu not to get his hopes up. He couldn't afford to sit in bars and run illegal cargo much longer. He needed to find his friends and find a way home.

"Hey Natsu, is something wrong?" Natsu looked over to his small furry blue friend, "You haven't said much and you stopped eating and your basket is still like half-way full! That's not like you all!" Happy looked to have finished his meal and his voice was laden with concern. Natsu found he didn't even have the energy to grin. The more he thought on his lack of progress, the more agitated he got.

"It's nothing. Come on Happy. This music is giving me a headache," Natsu said as he slapped a few crysti-chips down on the bar to cover both his and Happy's tab before getting off the stool, shoving his hands into his pockets as he started heading for the stairs down to the first-floor entrance.

"Oh okay. Wait what about Vern? Shouldn't we tell him we're leaving?" Happy said as he started walking next to his friend, doing his best to try and not get stepped on by the many other, often inebriated patrons. Natsu spared a glance at his fellow shipmate, who was now busy dancing beside two blondes, laughing as he swayed with the electronic beats.

"I don't think he's going to notice. He can call if he gets worried," Natsu shrugged as went down the stairs, his mood starting to grow fouler by the second. He didn't bother to get out of anyone's way, shoving a few people aside. A few raised their voices at him, but abruptly stopped when they saw his eyes and noticed how the temperature around them seemed to be heating up. Natsu quickly made his way to the entrance, about to push open the heavy wooden doors when his sensitive hearing picked up the tail end of a conversation that made him stop dead in his tracks.

"…fell right out of the sky, she did. That's what the Zuranaan are saying anyways."

Natsu turned at the source of the voice, noticing a human man dressed in loose robes with a large black beard and turban sitting at a private booth with a pointed eared Sindari man. Natsu started making his way over, much to Happy's confusion as he friend rapidly changed course.

"So she fell out of a portal. We've heard weirder things happening with Jump Drive accidents. What makes this girl so special?" the Sindari asked, not looking impressed as he picked at some sort of salad on his plate.

"Well for one to survive a trip through the Jumpstream is no small feat," the human said, not noticing the rapidly approaching form of Natsu, "But I heard this girl was a mage. A powerful one to boot, with something about her magic that no one has ever seen before!" Natsu flinched. He had seen a bit of this dimension's magic. It was rather tame compared to some of the wondrous feats Earthland's wizards could do. This had to be one of his friends. The Sindari looked unimpressed still as the portly human laughed.

"That, and by all reports this girl is a ravishing beauty, all curves and fair skin. Rather strange apparently, but absolutely gorgeous," the man said wistfully as he stroked his beard, before letting out a cry of alarm as a powerful, tanned hand grabbed him by his collar and yanked him out of the booth. The large man started to protest until he saw the face of his abductor.

"This girl. Where did she land?" Natsu's question came out as more of a command as he easily lifted the man off the ground, ignoring the stares of the other patrons as the man began to sweat and his still seated colleague eyed the exchange warily.

"W-who are you?! Let me go, please!" the man shouted as he tried to squirm away, only for Natsu to press him into the wall by the booth, hard enough to rattle the glasses of those seated nearby.

"The girl. Where. Is. She?" Natsu growled out, the flames coming out of his breath. He heard somebody shout for the bouncers, but he didn't care. He needed this answer and he needed it now.

"The girl? I don't know who you mean!" the man pleaded, as Happy looked over nervously to the crowd, spotting two large bat-like Gothruki bouncers making their way over to the two.

"Natsu, we have company coming…" Happy said meekly, knowing how scathing his friend's anger could be. Natsu appeared to either not hear him or not care.

"The girl. The one who fell out of the sky. The one you were talking about to your buddy," Natsu hissed back, tightening his grip on the man's throat. The fat man's eyes bulged before he squeaked out a name.

"Arixus. She's on Arixus!"

Natsu let go of the man, turning around, his mind racing. Fell out of the sky. Never before seen magic. A complete weirdo who was also stunningly beautiful. It had to her. It had to be Lucy.

"Hey asshole, out of the club. Now!" one of the bouncers barked at him as he scooped up Happy onto his shoulders, watching them wave around their stun batons threateningly.

"Was just leaving, sorry for the scene," was all he said as he left the bar, stepping onto the early evening streets of Haven City. The sun was dipped low over the skyscrapers, Haven's moon already visible as the never-ending stream of air traffic and pedestrians swirled around and above him. Natsu took a breath, shaking, with excitement, nervousness, and relief.

"What was that all about?" Happy asked from his perch on Natsu's shoulders, "You just attacked that guy for no reason! We might not be allowed in again and their fish sandwich is really really tasty Natsu!"

"Happy, I know where Lucy is!" Natsu couldn't contain it anymore, practically jumping into the air. The little feline's eyes went wide with disbelief.

"What? How? When did you find this out?" the blue Exceed was beyond confused.

"That fat guy in there, I heard him talking about a girl who could use magic who fell out of the sky. So I went over and shook out the where she is out of him!" Natsu's words come out a mile a minute as he started running back to the bay that the Albatross was currently parked in.

"Natsu, how do you know it's Lucy? That could be anyone that fell out of the sky!" Happy really didn't want to burst his friend's bubble, but he also didn't want him charging off if he was wrong.

Natsu didn't appear to be bothered by the skepticism at all, just laughing at it. "The guy said it was a beautiful girl who could use magic that no one has ever seen before who is also a total weirdo. Who else could that be? It has to be Lucy!"

Happy didn't want to point out that all three of those qualities could apply to most of the girls in Fairy Tail, so he decided to keep his mouth shut. At the very least it could be one of their friends and that was worth checking out.

"Hey maybe you should call that Tez guy and see if he's heard about this yet," Happy offered, hoping to pawn off the cross-examination on the lizard so Natsu could get mad at him if he didn't like what he heard.

"Oh shit, you're right. That's a good idea!" Natsu paused his running momentarily, pulling out his phone and was just about to hit Tez's number when the screen lit up with an incoming call. From Tez.

"Well that's lucky," Natsu said as he accepted the call, "Hey Tez, I was just about to call you. I just heard about a-"

"Girl who fell from the sky on Arixus who can do strange magics and is apparently quite beautiful to primate standards," the lispy, smooth voice of the information broker came through with a slight chuckle, "It appears news travels fast."

"So it's true," Natsu could feel his heart welling up with hope, "She's real and on this Arixus place!"

"From everything I have gathered, yes, all of the above is true. Arixus is a desert backwater, which is why the news took so long to make it out here," Tez said as Natsu tried his best to suppress a shout of joy, "If anyone is going to be one of your missing friends, it should be this one."

"That's freaking great!" Natsu practically screamed into his phone, "Oh man, I'm sure Dekklin or Lynn knows where this Arixus is. Man, we are leaving tonight!"

"You should make haste, as that brings me to the bad part of this news," Tez's words had an instant effect on Natsu, as he stopped in his tracks and narrowed his eyes.

"Bad news? Tez what do you mean?"

"All of this info comes from advertisements on dark forums on the StellarNet, put out by the Zuranaan," Tez stated as Happy scratched his ears.

"The Zuranaan? The guy at the bar mentioned them. Who the hell are they?" Natsu asked as he leaned up against a streetlamp, worry starting to set in.

"A slaver guild that operates throughout Edge Space. Brutal and ruthless. Not particularly fond of them or slavery in general," Tez said, his normally amused tone turning bitter. Natsu's blood ran cold at the word slaver. It wouldn't be the first time Lucy had been targeted by those kind of people, but if she was on a different planet, captive and alone… he needed to leave now.

"Tez, is she still on Arixus? Tell me they haven't sold her yet," Natsu wasn't sure he could keep himself stable if the worst had happened. Happy gave him a reassuring squeeze on his arm, but it did little to alleviate his fear.

"From what I have seen, they haven't sold her yet," Natsu felt relief wash over him, "Their sales pitch is being met with a lot of scorn for trying to false advertise. No one wants to make the journey out to Arixus unless they have to after all."

"So there is still time," Natsu muttered, more to himself than to anyone in particular, "Thanks Tez. I'll be sure to transfer over the rest of the payment as soon as I get back to the ship. I really owe you for this."

"My pleasure, Mr. Dragneel. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for your other friends as well. Say hello to your friend on Arixus for me."

The line went dead and Natsu pocketed the phone before sprinting as hard as he could towards the Albatross. The sudden speed had Happy clinging for dear life.

"Natsu! Slow down!"

"I can't! We have to go save Lucy!"

* * *

Natsu practically leaped up the ladder into the commons room, sweat beating off his brow. Happy, slightly dizzy from all the high-speed turns and jumps they had made to get here.

"Guys! Guys! We need to leave now!" Natsu belted out, startling both Choxin and Lynn, who were playing some sort of card game with one another.

"Isanada above, lower your voice Natsu!" Lynn screeched as she held her ears while Choxin let off a surprised squeal and dropped his cards, "What the hell are you going on about?"

"We need to leave right now Lynn!" Natsu was jumping up and down like a little kid, "We don't have any time!"

"Time for what you maniac?" Lynn asked, as Choxin regathered his cards up, before turning to Natsu.

"My dear friend, if you would lower your excitement levels you may be able to more effectively communicate what you wish us to hear," the Glokkin doctor said before Natsu shook his head.

"Can't calm down. I found one of my friends. Lucy! She's on Arixus but we have to leave now!" Natsu managed to stop himself from jumping, but he had word vomit and it showed no signs of stopping.

That caught the other two smugglers' attention at the very least.

"Wait slow down. You know where one of your friends are?" Lynn asked, standing up, her annoyance gone.

"Didn't you hear me? She's on Arixus! I called Tez and he confirmed it!" Natsu said exasperated, "But we have to leave now. A bunch of slavers have her right now and I need to rescue her yesterday!"

Lynn looked at Natsu before looking at Choxin then back at Natsu. "Choxin, call Dekklin and get him back to the ship. He's going to want to hear this." She turned back to Natsu. "Calm down. Tell me everything."

* * *

It took Adam Dekklin about thirty minutes to make his way back to the Albatross after receiving an urgent call from his medical officer and long-time friend. He had to cut his meeting with Vryanx short, much to his annoyance, but the shady Chimerax had simply handed him the delivery details and reminded him what would happen if he failed his run. Not that Dekklin needed any reminding.

 _I swear this reason better be a good one or there's going to be hell to pay,_ he thought darkly to himself as he stepped into Bay 87, seeing the _Albatross_ in all her glory. He was also surprised to see Wres and Vern outside, their backs to him. The green Yendari spun around upon hearing footsteps, his hands going to his holstered pistols, but the security officer relaxed when he saw Dekklin.

"Captain," Wres saluted him, an annoying habit that Dekklin had never managed to break him of, "I see you were called as well. Apparently Natsu has some big news for us."

Dekklin rolled his eyes, wishing he had something to bite or chew on. Lynn and Choxin had made him give up his tobacco habits long ago, but Isanada above did he still miss it sometimes. "So that's what this is about. It better be real fucking good. I almost lost my head for answering the emergency phone."

"What, were you in a real hush-hush, cloak and dagger meeting there bossman?" Vern shot him a cheeky grin as all three entered the _Albatross_ , heading for the cargo lift instead of the ladders. His humor evaporated as Dekklin shot him a stone-cold glare.

"I was. With the Silent Maw." The color drained from Vern's face and Wres shifted uncomfortably. Dekklin continued, "I'll tell you the details after I finished strangling Choxin and our newest crew member."

The rest of the trip was in silence as the cargo lift descended to its position in the commons. Dekklin exited first, his two subordinates following closely behind as he saw that Lynn, Choxin, and the two biggest pains in his ass that had ever drawn breath were all standing around, mixtures of excitement and worry. Natsu looked at Dekklin and was about to open his ever loud mouth before the often angry captain beat him to it.

"Before anyone says anything, I just want to remind you that the emergency line is for emergencies only. Not for casual conversation, not for getting the crew together for lunch, but for fucking emergencies. Is that clear?" Dekklin practically hissed out the last sentence. Annoyingly, none of the four before him looked chastised and Choxin actually spoke up.

"I am aware of that Captain, however the nature of Natsu and Happy's discovery is one of dire important and time-sensitive. I wouldn't have used that line otherwise," Choxin warbled out and Dekklin found himself a bit annoyed at himself for blowing up immediately, especially on the doctor. Choxin had served with him on _Wings of Deliverance_. He knew proper protocol.

"Fine. Spit it out," Dekklin conceded as he took a sit, feeling very drained. Natsu didn't waste any time.

"I found Lucy. One of my friends," Natsu said, "Not here. But I know where she is. Before you say anything, I had my info broker double-check it. It's true." Dekklin raised his eyebrows, not expecting that to be the news. He had honestly sort of forgotten that Natsu was looking for other people.

"Well hot damn, that's good news!" Vern shouted, pumping his fist in the air, "Well, where is this cutie you always go on about?" That question made Natsu's face hardened and his voice took on a steely edge.

"On Arixus. And she's not doing too well. Slavers have her. We need to leave and head there right now. We can't waste anymore time!" the blazing fist hitting the table made everyone but Dekklin flinch.

"Slavers? You're sure?" Dekklin asked, not liking where this was going at all.

"Tez is his info broker Dekklin. He confirmed the Zuranaan have his friend," Lynn said grimly. Dekklin swore as both Wres and Vern shared concerned looks.

"Lynn told me all about these guys. You all know how evil they are. We have to leave now, while Lucy's still on Arixus!" Natsu said, gripping the table as Happy seconded his motion with him.

"I'll go prep the engines," Vern said already heading towards a latter, while Wres starting heading for his cabin. "I'll double check our armaments, but we should have enough to deal with a bunch of slave-taking scum." Dekklin sighed. He knew what he had to do. He also knew it might result in a fist-fight.

"Belay that order," he shouted, causing everyone to freeze. Natsu looked at him, stunned, before anger took over his features.

"What the hell do you mean belay?! Lucy is in danger!"

"Dekklin, this girl doesn't have a lot of time. We need to hurry, before she gets sold off-world," Lynn's voice was steel and oddly calm, but Dekklin knew she was pissed.

"Hey boss, pretty girl is in danger. What gives?" Vern also hit with a question, his arms folded, his voice lacking its usual chipper tone.

"This ship isn't going anywhere until 0700 tomorrow morning. We have a job, whose client meeting your call interrupted, and we can't afford to go out after a lead that might already be cold." Dekklin kept his voice level, "Arixus is a five-day Jump from here and hell of a lot farther away from where our cargo needs to go to. I'm sorry Natsu, but you'll have to wait till after the run is down for us to head out to Arixus."

The table dented as Natsu slammed both of his fists down, flames coiling both of his arms. "Are you serious?! Are you fucking serious?!" Natsu's voice echoed throughout the ship, "My friend is in danger, with a bunch of evil men doing gods no what to her and you don't want to go get her because you might have to cancel a job?!"

"It's not that simpl-"

"To the hell it is!" Natsu cut off the captain, pointing a finger accusingly at him, "We're going to get Lucy and I don't care what you say or do! I'm not abandoning my friend, so you can make a little bit of money!"

"Goddammit would you shut the fuck up and listen!" Dekklin yelled back with a force he hadn't used since his old Navy days, "It's not that simple. The job I took was from the Silent Maw and it has a very tight time table. I can't drop the job and I can't afford the delay of going to Arixus and back, especially if your friend gets sold in the five days it takes to get there!"

"What does it matter who you took the job from, can't they just give it to someone else?!" Natsu felt his fury rolling over. He needed to either get this ship in the air or get out of it before he completely lost it. He was about to scream at Dekklin again when Lynn's voice cut him off.

"Natsu. Cool it." Her voice was absolute ice, a tone Erza often used. Despite his fury, Natsu felt himself relax, extinguishing his flames. The first mate then turned towards Dekklin, the look on her face enough to freeze one solid. "You took a job with the Silent Maw without even consulting me? Adam, we're partners and-"

"The payout is two million Lynn." Dekklin said, causing Lynn to just gape at him and for the rest of the crew, sans Natsu and Happy, to start sputtering, "And it was a now or never deal. I didn't have time to call you. You know I would have otherwise."

"Oh. Wait you were in the…" Lynn trailed off as he even Choxin flushed blue with shame.

"It's fine they were understanding. That time. But they made it very clear what would happen if that cargo isn't delivered at the right time and at the right location."

"Would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Natsu said, fire starting to pour back into his words, "Who the hell is the Silent Maw and why can't you just put the jab on hold?"

"The Silent Maw is probably the largest and deadliest organized crime syndicate in the whole galaxy. And they are all about keeping promises and minding your manners. Because I took that job, I'm honor-bound in their eyes to finish it exactly as they instructed me too." Dekklin didn't have the usual smug anger he had when lecturing Natsu, something which surprised and worried the Dragon Slayer, "If I abandon that job to go get your friend, they will take it as a personal insult. If the Silent Maw fees like it has been wronged, there is nowhere in the Edge or the Empire you can hide from their assassins. I'm not telling you we can't go because I want to Natsu. It's because I have to."

Natsu looked over at Lynn and Choxin, hoping to find an ally, but the two senior runners didn't look him in the eye.

"Guys, come on, it can't be that bad. We can't just leave Lucy," Natsu didn't like how pleading his voice sounded but he was getting desperate. He looked to Vern and Wres, who had always helped him in tracking down any leads or info on his friends and was stunned when neither looked at him.

"Natsu, I'm sorry man, but the Silent Maw. They ain't a joke," Vern said, scratching at his upper arm as he looked at the floor, "I know you friend doesn't have much time, but we won't be helping her if we pick her up and then a bunch of gene-shifting hitmen kill everyone affiliated with this ship."

Natsu looked at Happy, who had remained very quiet this whole time. He looked at Natsu with a lost expression before Dekklin sighed.

"Natsu, listen to me. As soon as this job is over, this crew will be rich. And I promise we will go straight to Arixus afterwards to rescue your friend. But right now, I need you to calm down and get ready for tomorrow's run. Is that understood?" Dekklin tried to make his tone as gentle as possible, fully understanding where the kid was coming from, but one look at his face told him that he didn't have a chance in hell of getting through to him.

"Fine, I see how it is," Natsu balled his fist so tightly he felt blood dripping down from them, "If none of you are willing to help me, then I'll just help Lucy myself. Come on Happy, we got a friend to rescue." Happy immediately lepta on to his shoulders and Natsu started to run out, to the shouts of alarm from the _Albatross_ crew.

"Where the hell do you think your going?" Dekklin yelled, leaping from his seat after the Dragon Slayer, only for Natsu's pink haired locks to already disappear down the ladder shaft, the sound of boots hitting pavement echoing up.

"Wres, Vern, go after him. Make sure that hotheaded idiot doesn't do anything stupid!" Dekklin said as the two immediately started down the ladders, after their fire-breathing quarry.

"You don't think he'll try shipjacking, right?" Lynn asked, already pouring a shot of whiskey out into two glasses. Dekklin took his before she even finished pouring it, gulping down the liquid in one go.

"Isanada above, I hope not. That idiot still doesn't know how to land."

* * *

"Natsu, where are we going?!" Happy said as he tried to hold on, as Natsu ran through the various bays of the Haven City Starport, past neon lit storefronts, restaurants, and flight registries, "Do you even have a plan?"

"Uh yeah. Go to Arixus, kick some ass, and rescue Lucy!" Natsu said, his eyes scanning the flight departures and arrivals on the various screens as he ran through the starport, which despite the late hour on Haven was still bustling with beings of all types. He had lost Vern and Wres in the alleyways outside of the starport about an hour ago, though he kept a wary eye out for them.

 _I don't care how scary this Silent Mouth is,_ Natsu thought angrily, _I can't believe that none of them were willing to help me. I should have known better to trust these people. They aren't family, not like the guild is._ He idly touched his guild stamp. Gods he missed them.

"What?! That's not a plan, that's just an idea!" Happy protested as Natsu finally slowed, having made a giant loop of the starport, "I know we have to go save Lucy, but we can't just rush in!"

"I have a plan and I know that! Why do you think I looped around the starport, I was seeing if any ships were going to this Arixus place that we could buy passage on!" Natsu said, always annoyed when Happy treated him like a total idiot.

"And?" Happy said, hopefully expecting more than that, "Are there any?"

"No," Natsu admitted, "There isn't a single ship heading there. Tez wasn't kidding when he said that nobody goes there unless they have to."

"So what now? Do we just ask people to take us there?" Happy said before Natsu shook his head.

"You know how the spacers that come here are, it's a miracle that Dekklin even let me stay on the _Albatross_. By the time we find somebody who isn't a total jackass who might take us there, either Vern and Wres find us and I'll have to fight two people who I still consider buddies even I'm mad at them right now or worse, Lucy might be sold off-world. We're out of time Happy." Natsu clenched his fist again, before walking up to a group of spacers who were just coming out of restaurant, slightly drunk by the looks of it and laughing among themselves.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Happy whispered, bad memories coming back as he noticed one of the spacers was a slug-person, like the guy who wanted to eat him back at the pet shop.

"Just trust me and play along, I have an idea, but I need some quick info, the kind you can't get from a Net terminal," Natsu whispered back before approaching the group of five, "Hey guys, can you help me settle an argument?"

The spacers turned, and their friendly attitude seemed to disappear as a red-skinned, horned Cervanil man in a ripped tank top and cargo pants answered him.

"Piss off you deckhand, go bother someone else," the alien sneered. Natsu wasn't deterred.

"It'll only take a second, my friend here," he gestured to Happy, "Is absolutely convinced that the _Runner's Gamble_ is the fastest ship on Haven and he won't listen to me even though he's wrong. Hoping one of you void masters might set him straight so I don't have to be embarrassed by his stupidity anymore."

"Hey! Don't call me stupid! You're stupid!" Happy snapped back as Natsu flashed him a cheeky grin. The Cervanil looked like he was just going to shout more abuse, but the Sluverian with him spoke up first.

"Ha ha ha, your blue friend is an idiot," the slug-like alien laughed, "Everyone knows the _Jet Blue_ is the fastest ship out of Haven. The _Runner's Gamble_ doesn't hold a candle!"

"I think you've had too much to drink Glurz. _Jet Blue_ is a fast ship, aye, but the _Zephyr_ is the fastest ship on Haven. Bar none," the only human member of the group spoke up and he didn't sound quite as drunk as the others did.

"The _Zephyr_?" Natsu asked, "Really? That's the fastest ship?" Not that Natsu actually knew a thing about any of the ships being tossed around, but the nods the other spacers gave him seemed to be tipping the scale sin the _Zephyr_ 's favor.

"Natsu, what are you doing? Why does any of this matter?" Happy whispered, eyeing the spacers warily.

"Shut up, we almost got an answer," he whispered back, thankful that the spacers weren't capable of being too perceptive at the moment.

"Yep. She's a _Windstream_ -class courier, straight form the Imperial Heartland. And she's been tricked out for even more speed, both sublight and Jump stream. She can outrun anything in the galaxy," the man said, admiration in his dark eyes, "If you wanna go see for yourself, she's over at Bay 31. Just don't get to close. Her owner isn't a man to be crossed and she always has guards on her. They don't mind if you just spare a glance but don't linger too long."

Natsu let a smile go to his face before turning his head to Happy, "You see I told you were wrong and I can physically show you now! Thanks for settling that guys!" Natsu took off, not even bothering to wait for any welcomes or more insults.

"Natsu, can you please tell me what that was all about?" Happy was becoming increasingly frustrated by his friend's actions and he hated being kept in the dark. Both literally and figuratively. "What does it matter which ship is the fastest? Where are we going now?"

Natsu just flashed Happy is trademarked grin.

"Bay 31. We're going to steal that ship and go get Lucy ourselves." Happy was silent for a moment as they got ever closer, the numbers on the bays already in the forties.

"But you don't know how to fly!"

"Do too!"

"Only in space! You never even learned how to land and Lynn had to take off for you before!"

"It can't be that hard, I'll just down some pills and we'll be cruising in no time!"

Happy briefly wondered if it was too late to turn around, ask Dekklin for forgiveness and hang out on the _Albatross_ until they could get Lucy. As Natsu pointed out the large bay with the numbers 31 above it, Happy realized that he might have made a mistake sticking with his best friend.

The bay was far larger than the one the _Albatross_ was in. There was indeed a ship parked in there, one not like any Happy or Natsu had seen before. Where as the _Albatross_ was built sort of like a large jet fighter, this ship was bat-like in shape, with long sweeping wings that were currently folded up with a large curved mid-section. It was smaller than the _Albatross_ and was painted a pure white as opposed to the midnight black of Dekklin's ship. Natsu was far from an expert on ships, but it certainly looked much faster than the Albatross at least.

The ship's landing ramp was currently down and Natsu saw that the bay was far from empty. There were nine figures in it. Six of them were dressed in purple light blast carapace, toting carbines and pistols. Two of them were dressed in what looked like stereotypical gangster street clothes, one a brown-skinned human not much older than Natsu and the other a Remeri woman. The last figure was a large, well-dressed and bejeweled Steryian man, his granite skin and twin crimson head-crests making him easy to pick out as he stood near the ship. He was currently talking to the two youth gangsters, while the armed guards stood at attention near the bays entrance and two of them with the Steryian, who looked to be in charge. Probably the ship's owner.

"That's a lot of guns," Happy gulped, still remembering the firefight that Natsu had thrown them into on Bradius Minor. "Are we sure about this?"

"Yep," Natsu said, cracking his knuckles, "Let's go get our ride!"

Before Happy could say anything else, Natsu launched himself, igniting his fists and hitting the first guard as hard as he could in the head. Shouts of alarm went up from the others as the slender Ranjiran collided into the wall, knocked out cold. Not wasting anytime, Natsu launched a Fire Dragin's Claw at a group of three across from him, not even fazed as bullets starting whipping past him. He made quick work of the three, before turning his attention to the group at the ship.

"Hey, sorry to barge in like this, but I need that ship," Natsu said as the Steryian man looked absolutely livid with rage.

"You morons, don't just stand there! Kill him!" the man shouted before the only human in the group glared at Natsu as recognition kicked in.

"You've got to be fucking joking! It's you Pinky!" the human pointed his pistol at Natsu accusingly, who for the first time, recognized just who the thug was.

"Oh hey, Happy! That's the guy who tried to kill me when I first came here," Natsu's tone was almost psychotically gleeful, "Now I get to kick his ass for real!"

"You're a dead man Pinky! A dead man!" the thug shouted as he fired his pistol at Natsu, who used his Fire Dragon's Claw to boost his speed, before pouring his energy into his fist.

"I told you it's salmon! FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" Natsu belted the thug hard in the face, hearing bones snap as blood exploded from the thug's ruined nose. He was sent flying hard into the Remeri woman, knocking her into the ground with a cry of panic. Natsu didn't get give the others time to recover, sweeping one of the guards, grabbing his carbine and bashing it as hard as he could into the other's head. Satisfied both were down, he turned his attention to the Steryian, who to his credit, looked more angry than anything.

"You insect, you dare attack Durask Goldhammer, Lord of the Violet Suns?!" the man drew a heavy, bejeweled club of what looked like durasteel from behind him, "I'll enjoy bashing your bones into paste for this insult!"

"Finally, someone who gets it!" Natsu shouted, much to Happy's concern, "I haven't run into a real warrior since I got here! Bring it Bonehead!" Natsu charged, aiming a punch square at the alien's jaw. He instead got a reinforced steel club tipped with diamonds into his ribs, hard enough for something to crack. Letting out a cry of pain, Natsu rolled out of the man's reach.

 _Wow, okay, he can swing that thing pretty fast,_ Natsu thought, before he heard the guards he knocked out starting to stir, _As fun as this would normally be, I don't have time for this._

"As much as I want to keep this going, you're in my way! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu put all his magic into his punch, sending him colliding into the Steryian's gut faster than the bigger alien could register. Spit and a bit of crimson liquid flew out of the alien's mouth as Natsu knocked him to the ground, using the momentum to pin the alien down.

"Happy, get his code cylinder!"

"Aye sir!" Happy launched himself from Natsu's back, desperately scanning up and down the alien's body for the code cylinder that would grant access to his ship.

"Shoot that asshole!"

"Are you crazy? You'll hit the boss!"

The shouts of the now conscious guards made Happy freeze as Natsu gritted his teeth.

"Happy, come on!" There, bulging out of his robes inner pocket. Happy quickly nabbed the cylinder in his paws.

"Got it Natsu!" Happy said before letting out a squeak as Natsu grabbed him roughly, rolling off the dazed alien crime lord as bullets hit the ground where he was but a moment ago. His ribs were screaming in agony, but Natsu pushed through, up the ramp, before hitting the switch to close the door. Unlike the ladders of the _Albatross_ , the inside of the _Zephyr_ had two sets of stairs on either side of its cargo bay and Natsu hurried up the left side. The top floor had a commons area similar to the _Albatross_ albeit more lavish, if the brief glance Natsu spared it was anything to go by. He'd focus on that later.

The doors automatically opened towards the bridge, where a single leather seat sat, next to the controls, along with a smaller on the right of the ship, next to a communications and sensor station. Quickly, flowing on instinct, his heart pounding in his chest, Natsu inserted the code cylinder in, before going through the start-up function. Lynn had said that it was practically the same on most vessels and Natsu thanked every god there ever was that the ship's system came online. From his viewport, he could see the guards had gotten their dazed leading up and out of the way and sure enough bullets were pinging off the reinforced ultraglass of the bridge.

Thinking quickly, he downed some of his motion pills, tossing the container to Happy, who barely caught it, before the little blue Exceed strapped himself into the co-pilot's seat.

"Hold on Happy, this is probably going to be rough!" Natsu yelled before as the engines kicked on, the micro-thrusters on the wings kicking on as the ship started to lift off, its wings folding down into a flight position. He waited the two seconds it took for the computer to register green on the afterburners before Natsu grit his teeth and gunned it.

In retrospect, he should have really practiced taking off with Lynn more. They shot out of the bay clipping the top of roof. Natsu gripped the controls hard as the ship spun out of control briefly, before nose-diving it back towards the starport as a heavy cargo shuttle tried to veer out of Natsu's way.

"Oh shit, oh shit, sorry!" Natus yelled, though no one but Happy, who was digging his claws into his seat as far as they would go, was the only one who could hear him. A quick look at the displays told him the _Zephyr_ 's shields had ate the blow, but they were down to a mere nine percent. Best not to hit anything else.

"Haven Control to the _Zephyr_ , you are not scheduled to launch. Return to Bay 31 immediately, before you cause an accident!" a very agitated voice came out over the ship's comm-set and Natsu, who now had the ship weaving through the very distressed traffic of incoming and outgoing cargo shuttles and light freighters, ignored it.

"Sorry, can't talk right now, trying not to crash!" Natsu said, gritting his teeth as he fought to get a clear section of the night sky to burst into it.

"Haven Control to the _Zephyr_ , failure to turn around will be logged as a flagrant violation of Haven Star Commerce Regulations. If you do not cease your launch and return to Bay 31 immediately, we will scramble tractor-tugs!" the voice returned, even more agitated than before, as Natsu remembered to turn the ship's running lights on. After ducking out of a passenger skiff's wake, the _Zephyr_ shaking from the turbulence of the larger craft's engines, Natsu finally had a clear sky.

"Hitting the afterburners, we're going out of atmosphere in thirty seconds!" Natsu yelled as he read the displays on the ship's monitors, before the force of the afterburners pushed him back into his seat, even though he was restrained. That old spacer hadn't been lying about the speed!

"Haven Control to _Zephyr_ , we have sent an interdiction force after you. Any non-compliance will be met with lethal force!" the voice returned one last time before Natsu just hit the off-switch for the comms, as the _Zephyr_ shook slightly before finally breaking free of Haven's gravitational pull. Natsu was just about to sigh in relief, where a blaring alarm from Happy's console caught his attention.

"Natsu, the computer says there's five fast moving ships coming up form the planet after us!" Happy said, not even trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"Shit, I know I'm not good enough to evade fighters. I know you're not supposed to do it, but we'll just have to Jump to Arixus right here!"

"But Natsu won't that energy rain down on Haven!? That would-"

"Dammit Happy I know! Just punch in the coordinates while I try to put as much distance between us and Haven as possible! Our engines are running real hot right now, so I don't know much more I can push it!"

"Aye sir!" Happy saluted before quickly bringing up Arixus on the navigation logs, inputting the coordinates in while Natsu gunned it. If they could just make it past the moon, there shouldn't be to much arcane fallout.

"Fighters are closing in Natsu!" Happy cried as the alarm blared once again. Natsu growled.

"Is the computer ready!?"

"Aye sire!" Happy said before the shield alarm blared as bolt of super-heated plasma slammed into the ship. The Haven fighters were here.

"Now or never, initiating Jump! We're coming Lucy!" Natsu screamed out before hitting the button, feeling the power of the arcane wash over him as the Jump Drive activated, tearing a whole in realspace and sucking the _Zephyr_ into the swirling violet space of the Jumpstream.

* * *

"Quenton, you recognized that human," Durask Goldhammer's voice was like that of giant made of gravel, "Who is he?"

Quenton Arskie gulped. Chidna had brought him a compress for his nose, but it was definitely broken. At least the bleeding had stopped. Not that it mattered. The boss was surveying the bullet-marked and flame-scorched space of his private landing bay. The massive Steryian was gripping his club do tightly that Quenton could have sworn it was staring to crumble in the stocky alien's hands.

"He's a tosser. Ran into him bout a month ago," his voice was muffled by the lack of a functioning nose, "Me and the other Market lads caught him roughing up one of our roaches, so we tried to shank him. He was a slippery one though. Ran off into the starport, into some spacer's bay. That's how Jargoth got that kneecap, spacers ran us off." That incident still made Quenton's blood boil.

"Who is he? Who does he associate with?" Goldhammer asked again, directly a very angry glare at his flunky. Quenton fought to shrivel at its glare.

"Calls himself Natsu Dragneel. I had some of my lads watching him after the spacer trash shot at us. They took him in apparently. He's rarely alone and he as you saw, he ain't a bad fighter. It was him that started that animal escape in the Sumps too."

"The spacers, Quenton. Who are the spacers, so I properly visit the wrath of the Violet Suns onto them," Goldhammer said in atone that Quenton had heard only before people died, usually messily.

"Albatross Company. Led by a humie named Adam Dekklin."

"Send word to all the Suns. I want those spacers skinned. And put a bounty on this Natsu Dragneel. 80K. No one, NO ONE, steals and assaults Durask Goldhammer and the Violet Suns and lives to tell the tale about it.


	8. Chapter 8

**In orbit of Arixus, Ristetta System, Unclaimed Territory, Edge Space**

"Alright, looks like we're in a stable orbit. Happy, see if you can put a course for this Zhars place into the computer. Hopefully we can just auto-pilot this thing down to the surface." Natsu said as he read the read-outs on the _Zephyr_ 's monitors as the ship drifted into position above the brown and gold world of Arixus.

"Aye sir!" Happy gave a quick salute from the co-pilot's chair before bringing up the admittedly sparse data on Arixus. The Exceed had to admit to himself, he was getting good at this technology stuff, even though he didn't have opposable thumbs.

While Happy typed away at his console, entering in search queries and inputting coordinates and flight patterns, Natsu leaned back into the very comfortable pilot's chair, idly rubbing his still sore ribs. They had been in the Jumpstream for four days as opposed to the five that it normally took, thanks to the _Zephyr_ 's augmented mana drive. It still wasn't fast enough for Natsu. He had been grinding his teeth and biting his lip for the past four days and if he hadn't discovered the miniature gym onboard, he might have lost his mind. But now they were here. Lucy was down there, somewhere on Arixus' sun-scorched sands. By the end of today, he planned on wrapping in his arms and not ever letting go. That thought brought a smile to his face, one of the few he'd had on the Jump.

 _You're going to be safe soon Luce,_ he thought as he idly corrected the ships drift, _and just wait to you see this ship! We couldn't have picked a better ship to rescue a princess in!_

He snorted to himself, picturing her counter-argument, but he had to admit, the _Zephyr_ was an impressive vessel. Once you were in the Jumpstream, there wasn't much to do other than to check on the mana drive and adjust any irregularities, which Natsu and Happy did not know the first thing about. So, they had quickly explored the vessel and discovered that it was, to put it simply, much more flashy than the _Albatross_. Like the _Albatross_ , it had two decks, the lower one that housed the cargo bay and engineering, and the upper one for the crew. However, whoever this Goldhammer guy was, he hadn't skimped on amenities.

The commons area had a leather couch with a massage function built in to it, a fully-stocked kitchen with an auto-chef and fridge full of good steaks and fine liquor. The holoscreen came with quite a few downloaded shows, movies, and games to keep one busy, and the eating table and its chairs actually folded into the deckfloor when not in use in oreder to give more space. Unlike the _Albatross_ , which had several small, cramped quarters and bathroom and medical bay that were attached to the upper deck, the _Zephyr_ was equipped with only three other rooms. A rec room and gym, a much larger medical bay with an auto-doc unit and a combination crew cabin with two bunk beds along with a decent sized bathroom. Natsu had been relived when the ship's auto-doc had confirmed his ribs weren't broken and several light workouts in the gym had kept his mind occupied over the last few days. That wasn't the best part though.

The private quarters, located north of the common room, was beyond lavish. Carpeted floors, a large bed with silk sheets, a private bathroom and entertainment center, and several dressers and lockers made it perfect to be his and Lucy's room. The bed was beyond comfy, he had slept better than he had in weeks there. He still woke up at least once every two days from those damn nightmares, but their impact was lessened here.

"Natus! Course is all plotted for the Zhars Starport!" Happy's voice brought Natsu out of his thoughts and he turned around and gave the Exceed a thumbs up.

"Gotcha little buddy, now we just sit tight and let the auto-pilot take us in nice and easy," he bared his teeth in a large grin, "We'll have Lucy on board and be back to Haven before the day is over."

* * *

The sounds of Happy's shrieks of terror, while very fitting to the situation, where not helping Natsu right now. Not that he had the ability or energy to spare to quiet his little friend, busy as was trying not to let the Zephyr spin out of control or cover the inside of the cockpit with vomit.

" _Alert: Adverse weather conditions are increasing in intensity. Suggestion: Change flight course to avoid_." The helpful feminine tone of the _Zephyr_ 's onboard AI assistant chimed in as Natsu strained to maneuver the ship to the right as gale-force winds were doing there best to flip the ship any way they wanted to.

"Working on it asshole!" Natsu said through gritted teeth as he kept switching his gaze quickly from both the map heading and from the swirling maelstrom of sand and debris that had engulfed their courier vessel.

The flight down had gone smoothly, only some light turbulence upon reentering atmosphere, nothing that his motion pills couldn't handle. Natsu had actually fallen asleep briefly as they made their way to Arixus' only major settlement before they had run into this.

More accurately, the sandstorm had run into them. It had come seemingly out of nowhere before the ship's sensors could pick it up and it had taken ever last bit of Natsu's strength and Happy's thruster adjustments to keep the _Zephyr_ from being tossed around like a toy.

"We're taking too much sand Natsu! The engines are overheating!" Happy cried out over a blaring alarm as the helpful and terrifying message popped up on Natsu's console as well, "We have to get out of this storm now!"

"I'm trying, it's not that easy!" Natsu yelled back. The map display said they were almost to Zhars, just another forty kilometers. They just had to make it a little bit longer!

" _Alert: Engine heat level exceeding maximum safe level. Enacting emergency shutdown_ ," the helpful voice returned as Natsu's eyed went wide. He pried a hand off of the control sticks, going through the consoles register in a frenzied panic.

"No, no no no no no! Don't do that!" Natsu said as the map display read out 25 kilometers, "Happy we're almost there! Stop her!"

"I'm trying! I can't find the override!" Happy cried out, frantically going through menu after menu.

" _Alert: Shutting down primary engines and micro-thruster units in ten seconds. Crew members are advised to brace themselves for a Type Two crash landing_." Natsu looked at the display again. Just ten more kilometers, the storm was starting to die down. They were so close!

"Happy! Either strap in or shut her off!" The clicking of the emergency safety webbing told Natsu which choice Happy had made.

"Hold on Happy! This is going to be rough!"

"Aye sir!"

" _Alert_ : _Engine shut-off complete."_

Natsu fought the urge to close his eyes as the tortured sound of the _Zephyr_ 's overheating and sand-clogged engines abruptly ceased as the courier craft exited the swirling darkness of the storm into clear red skies, with nothing but sand dunes below them and the clustered hovels and bazaars of Zhars rapidly coming into view in the distance. The _Zephyr_ glided across the sky for what felt like ages, before the altitude alarm blared as the ship started to rapidly descend. Natsu gripped his seat tightly as the safety webbing shot out from it, enclosing him in a tight cocoon of polythine and soft crash-foam. The cockpit was now taken up entirely by the rapidly approaching form of a large sand dune.

"Oh shit!"

The _Zephyr_ collided into the dune with enough force to snap both Natsu and Happy's heads back and the ship shot through the dune like an arrow. Natsu and Happy both screamed in terror as the ship bounced off the top of another, its right wing catching the ground before it started pinwheeling through the air. Shield alerts popped up as the barriers finally collapsed and Natsu yelled as the ship went nose first into another dune. The force hit hard enough for Natsu to hear metal crumpling as the ship kept going forward, though mercifully, it was starting to slow. He and Happy kept screaming as the _Zephyr_ skidded across the sands, it's pace gradually slowing down until finally it bumped into another dune, the nose just slight entering the massive hill of sand. Natsu and Happy stopped screaming as damage reports and stabilization errors started blaring on all the consoles.

"Is it over?" Happy timidly asked as he finally opened his eyes, looking around, fully expecting to be dead and in Exceed heaven.

Natsu opened his mouth to answer, only to vomit all over the flight controls, main consoles, the safety webbing and a bit of the floor. Happy scrunched his nose at the smell before hitting the release on his safety webbing and making his way over to his friend. He hit the release on Natsu's webbing and the Dragon Slayer collapsed to the ground, dry heaving as his stomach vented its fury at him for putting it through such shenanigans. After a minute, he took a deep breath before getting up.

"Yeah, we're here. Let's go get Lucy."

* * *

Natsu had been relived to discover that the ship had landed in a way that allowed for the cargo ramp to still lower, though the fact that the ship was leaning to the right and one of the wings was buried in sand was concerning. He had taken fifteen minutes to clean up his vomit, as he didn't want it to bake in the heat and have that to deal with when he brought Lucy back and then assessed the damage reports.

Natsu wasn't very religious, but he had sent a big thank you to every god he had heard of upon seeing how bad the damage was. The ship's AI had routed power back to the shields at the last minute, saving the ship from structural damage beyond some dents and slightly bent right wing. The bad news was that the shield generator hadn't taken the last-minute stress very well. It was totally fried and Natsu wasn't sure where to begin on fixing it, if it could even be fixed. But he'd deal with that later. He had gathered up his money, some rations and water and had was just now hopping down from the ramp, Happy on his shoulders as he hit the sand.

Natsu squinted as Arixus' twin suns beat down on the two and as comfortable with heat as he was, even he had to admit that being out in this for longer than an hour wasn't going to be fun. He took a deep breath, inhaling the dry scents of the planet, trying to see if he could pick out the familiar, often floral scents that Lucy used. He didn't pick that out, but he pick out the salty tinge of an Addapan, that was very close.

Turning to the northwest, Natsu readied himself in a fighting stance as he spotted a lone Addapan on the other side of the dune the _Zephyr_ was behind, the long-necked reptilian alien standing about twenty feet away from him, dressed in voluminous, loose fitting robes and shawl around its head. It appeared to be chewing some gum as it stared at him and the Zephyr with large gray eyes.

"You got a problem buddy?" Natsu called out, wondering if the alien might be part of the Zuranaan, who were apparently the only real power on the planet. The alien just stared blankly at him.

"You know the starport is over their friend?" the Addapan gestured a blue, clawed finger to the north, over the sand dune, "It's not even a quarter kilometer away, you didn't have to park in the sand." Natsu stared at the alien, not quite sure what to make of that before looking to Happy who just shrugged, "Guy seems like a weirdo Natsu."

"Yeah well, parking here saves me on docking fees," Natsu said as he started making his way towards the alien, hitting the code cylinder in his pocket to close and lock the ramp as he did, "Actually I got some questions for you. I'm looking for someone that's here on Arixus."

"We're all looking for someone or something, for that is the great journey of life," the Addapan man said again as Natsu folded his arms, "I'm busy though, so I will have to answer any of your questions at a later time."

Natsu raised an eyebrow as the alien popped a bubble, before sitting down in the sand and staring straight ahead. He looked around, noticing that Zhars was within walking distance, where he could spot a few other humanoid shapes on the streets in the distance before looking back at the Addapan. "You don't look busy to me."

"I am quite busy. I have successfully found out why you didn't park in the starport, so now I must clear my mind and allow the universe to tell me my next task," the Addapan said, still staring off into the distance, "Now please I need solitude. If you want information, try the Sand Eye Saloon. There are always people there. Now I must immerse myself in the world-spirit, so go away."

"Sand Eye Saloon huh," Natsu mumbled to himself. A bar was a good a place as any to get some info, "Uh thanks for the info. Hope the universe sends you a message soon." Natsu started for the settlement, not waiting for or expecting a reply as Happy shot the alien another look before turning to his friend.

"What a total weirdo. You think all the locals are like that?"

"I hope not, but I have the feeling that you have to be a little weird to live here," Natsu said as the quickly entered the outskirts of Zhars. Most of the people on the street where dressed like the Addapan. They all stared at him and Happy, but they averted their gaze when Natsu's eyes met theirs before the slunk away into nearby buildings or alleyways.

"I'm getting the feeling that the locals aren't the talking type," Natsu said as he kept a steady eye on his surroundings, "We might as well try to find this saloon ourselves. Keep an eye open for anything that looks like a bar."

"Aye sir," Happy replied, his voice uneasy as he scanned around, "Natsu why is everyone starting at us? It's creepy."

"Tez said that no one comes to this planet unless they have to," Natsu said, his voice hard, "We might be the first visitors in a while." Happy didn't say anything, just nodding as they made their way towards the center of the town. Zhars didn't look to be very big, which meant that they'd run across the saloon sooner rather than later. Still this was enemy territory. Lucy might be held captive somewhere in this very town and who knew if any of the people watching them worked for the Zuranaan or not.

"Hey Natsu, is that the place right there?" Happy pointed to a drab, single-story, greyish-brown building that looked as sand-beaten and unassuming as the others around it. The only thing that distinguished this one was the lack of windows and the swaying wooden sign. Upon the sign was a red eye, though it looked faint and very worn, no doubt from the constant erosion of the sand-laden wind.

Natsu spared a glance around, noticing a few prying eyes and other signs advertising food, clothes or other goods, but nothing us like this. "I think that's the place Happy. Let's go find where Lucy is."

The door to the saloon was wooden and worn like the sign and it opened with a creak. The interior was dimly lit, muted yellow lights casting shadows across beaten, stained tables and a long bar of ebony wood, all briefly illuminated by the outside sunlight before crawling back into dark ness once more as Natsu shut the door behind him. There was an older model music player off to the side, softly playing some sort of percussion heavy tune. The floor was sand, clumpy and grimy from sweat, spilt liquids, and probably more than a few bodily fluids.

The saloon wasn't empty either as Natsu saw every person in the place look over to see the new guest. There were a handful of patrons alongside a robotic barkeep, busy cleaning several glasses with two arms and rearranging bottles of liquor with another two. At the far table on the left, there were three older aliens, all nursing beers and playing some sort of card game, who quickly went back to their card game after getting a look at the newcomer. There was an Abexi in loose robes sitting at the bar, who had only spared a quick glance at the door. And most interesting to Natsu, were the four men, two Cervanil, a Kultonzi, and a human. All had the same loose robes as the other locals, but Natsu's keen eyes spotted bits of flak armor underneath the robes and they were the only people in the bar openly carrying weapons, stun batons and pistols at their belts. Natsu leveled his gaze on them and started over to them.

"Well, well, haven't seen you around here before," the Kultozian of the group spoke, eyeing Natsu with his large yellow eyes, "You must be the moron who crashed just outside of the docks. What's the matter fly boy? Reentry to hard on you?" This is elicited a round of laughter from the others, to which Natsu just sent a very toothy grin that didn't radiate any friendliness.

"Nope. Just didn't feel like paying docking fees," Natsu said with edge to it, one that stopped the laughter. The older aliens on the other side of the bar looked up from their card game as the four at the table glared at the pink haired human, "I'm here for some information. Where can I find the Zuranaan?"

The Kultozian narrowed his eyes and Natsu saw the other three reaching slowly reaching for their batons. _Well,_ Natsu thought as Happy gulped, _It wasn't very hard to find these guys. Now let's just find where Lucy is._

"Who's asking?" the gray skinned, large headed alien asked. Natsu gave him a challenging look before pointing at himself. "Natsu Dragneel." He braced himself for a fight, for Lucy had doubtlessly told these scum of him. Happy readied his magic, ready to lift his friend up in a moment's notice.

"Uh, who?" the Kultozian asked, sounding and looking bewildered. Natsu blinked, noticing that the other three goons also looked confused. How hadn't Lucy told them his name?

"Natsu Dragneel? Some people call me Salamander?" he offered as the Kultozian just tilted his head. Natsu looked up at Happy, who shrugged.

"I don't think they know that name Natsu," the cat offered unhelpfully as Natsu growled.

"How didn't she tell them about me?! The one who always rescues her?! The strongest wizard in Fairy Tail?!" smoke was coming out of Natsu's flared nostrils as indignation mixed with rage. The goons around him had been about ready to draw their batons when they all went rigid at the end of the sentence.

"Fairy Tail? But that means," the Kultozian sprang away from the table, drawing his stun baton, "He's come for the girl. Club him, if we bring back another mage, Emberheart will triple our pay." The other Zuranann thugs were quick on the up take, the human already swinging the baton, the blunt instrument crackling with electricity. Unfortunately for the swinger, Natsu wasn't as unguarded as he looked.

"So, you do know Fairy Tail then," Natsu said as he grabbed the thugs arm, twisting hit hard as the man let go of the baton with a pained yelp, "I'm here for my friend. Where is Lucy?!"

"Beat him down! Now!" the Kultozian yelled as all three thugs charged him. Growling, Natsu swung the human he still had a hold of into one of the Cervanil, before igniting his fists and ducking underneath the swing of the other devil-like alien.

"Fire Dragon's Claw!" a fiery swipe caught the yellow-skinned horned alien across the chest, his robes quickly catching fire, making the alien scream as he dropped to the floor, rolling desperately to put out the flames. Natsu didn't relent, grabbing the old stool and slamming it across the Kultozian's head, dropping the alien like a sack of bricks.

" **PLEASE STOP**. **PATRON. YOU ARE BREAKING SALOON PROPERTY**." The robot barkeep mechanically shouted out as Natsu, delivered a swift kick into the head of the human who was getting up from the thug he had crashed into, knocking the man out cold before he skidded into the wall with a loud crunch. The other Cervanil made to get up before Natsu's black combat boot slammed him back into the sand hard and the Dragon Slayer put all of his weight on it. He could feel ribs cracking beneath him, but Natsu didn't care.

"Lucy Heartfillia. Where is she? And you better tell me an answer I like or this is going to be very painful for you," Natsu's onyx eyes barred into the red of the Cervanil who spared a brief glance at his compatriots. The human was bleeding around his skull, the Kultozian was slumped on the floor, and the other one was still on fire, though he had stopped moving and screaming. The robot barkeep was screaming about how murder was against saloon regulations. No one else was getting up from their stools.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk!" the alien wheezed out.

"Then talk fast." Natsu's tone was deadly even and Happy felt himself pity the guy on the floor.

"She's with Emberheart, our leader," the alien choked out as Natsu slightly lifted his boot up. Natsu narrowed his eyes. "And where is this asshole at?"

"Our outpost. It's about a day away from the town, to the west," the Cervanil held up one hand, "She's there, with the rest of our men. It's a big stone and duracrete compound, you can't miss it!"

"Natsu, if I fly us there as fast as I can, we can make it sooner I bet!" Happy spoke up and Natsu nodded. He then leveled his gaze down at the slaver beneath him.

"I'm going to hold you to that information. I have your scent, so if you were lying to me or if Lucy isn't one hundred percent okay, I'm going to track you down and burn you into a pile of ash like your buddy over there. Understood?" Natus ignited his right fist as the Cervanil looked up at him in pure terror. Natsu didn't give the chance to reply before he slugged him hard in the face, hard enough to break his jaw. The working of a shotgun pump caught his attention.

" **YOU HAVE: TEN SECONDS. TO LEAVE THIS DRINKING ESTABLISHMENT. BEFORE I USE DEADLY FORCE ON YOU.** " The bartender had two shotguns pointed at him, while the other patrons just stared at him. Natsu held up his hands and started making for the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm leaving buddy, don't get your bolts all twisted up," Natsu huffed as he opened the entrance door.

" **THAT IS RIGHT. DON'T YOU COME BACK. YOU PUNK-ASS BITCH**." Natsu couldn't stifle the chuckle that came out at hearing that in the machine's monotone voice.

"Is it okay to leave those guys like that in there Natsu?" Happy asked worriedly, "They might tell their friends we're on our way when they wake up or they might try to destroy our ship."

"Not worried about them, since only the one in there is alive," Natsu said as he looked up at the sky, squinting his eyes before he started heading west.

"What do you mean? You only burnt up the one guy!" Happy exclaimed before Natsu shook his head. "Nope. Hit the guy with the chair too hard. I snapped his neck. Total accident, didn't mean to do it. And the other guy, I kicked hard enough to give him brain damage at the least, if I didn't outright cave his head in. And if one guy wants to try and take us on, well, just let him try."

It didn't take long for them to get to Zhars' western edge. Everyone gave them a wide birth. Whether it was because of general distrust of strangers or if news of what had happened in the saloon had spread, which considering how small Zhars was, wasn't out of the question, Natsu couldn't tell. Not that he cared. Getting to Lucy was all that mattered.

"You ready Happy?" Natsu asked as he surveyed the horizon. Nothing but suns, sand, and sun as far as the eye could see. Lucy was out in that expanse, somewhere, surrounded by scumbags and bastards.

"Aye sir, I'll give it all I got! Let's go get Lucy!" Happy exclaimed as he materialized his wings, beating them as he lifted Natsu into the sky. Quickly they began soaring over the expanse of golden sand, Natsu scanning every bit of land he could. They were so close.

* * *

The angel let off a shrill, drawn-out screech, like that of an prized opera diva as it fell to the earth with a crash, the blinding golden light of its form fading, revealing the ivory and golden armor-like flesh, it's halberd-like weapon falling to the side before both it and it's owner faded into dust. Xavier Darkathus let out a tired sigh as another five lights swooped down from above, singing as they launched spears of energy at him.

He quickly rolled out of the way as they arced where he had been standing but moment ago, holy energy cracking as they embedded themselves in the blue-gray soil of this barren, dead world he was on. Gathering orbs of pure white mana into his hands, the blond mage began launching bolt after bolt at his attackers, until the sky above was thick with explosions and smoky, white mist. They weren't dead, that much he knew for certain, but standing and fighting was pointless. He had slain twenty-two of these creatures in the past hour alone, but they just kept coming and his magic reserves where low.

"This is alarming. The servants of the Dead One in this dimension. Moving freely about." Xavier shook his head. He could not control where the rift sent him, now when he was in a corner. Not that it mattered, opening another one would have been simple enough. Usually.

Something in this dimension was preventing that though. Something that had to do with these annoying, singing, winged heralds of slaughter. Xavier sighed, tired and knowing that his search he was currently unmaintainable with his current strength and resources. He activated the rune-gem hanging from the necklace he wore, the blue-green crystal lighting up at his touch.

"Ki Sith, bring the ship in fast. We're leaving this place," Xavier said as he side stepped another energy spear, before raising a shield that cracked and buckled as several golden beams struck it.

"Understood sir. I'm reading Vetexllian signatures around you. Permission to come in weapons hot?" the chittering voice on the other end queried. Xavier grunted as he poured more mana into his shield. "Granted. Just make it quick."

The thirty seconds it took for Ki Sith to reach him felt like ages to Xavier as he dropped the shield as another golden light rushed at him, the very air around it being shredded as it swung its weapon at a speed even Xavier's enhanced senses had trouble following. He flowed around it as best he could, though he would admit that it taxed him more than he would have liked, before heavy green bolts blasted into the surface and the air around him and the scream of the _Silver Scythe_ 's engine boomed in like a shockwave. The angel in front of him disappeared, vaporized by plasma charges as the flak turrets on the ships dorsal and ventral sections began spitting out shells at a blinding rate. The ramp was already down as Ki Sith hovered the vessel just low enough for Xavier to boost himself up with a mana-enhanced jump.

"I'm onboard, let's leave before the Ophanium decide to show up," Xavier barely got the words out as the ramp closed shut and the _Scythe_ was already boosting up into the atmosphere.

"Well, did you find what you were looking for?" the smooth, sensual voice of Kyressa came out as the Sindari woman peeked her raven-haired head out of the Scythe's laboratory. Xavier shook his head as he started to head upstairs towards the cokpit.

"Yes and no. The reason why I can't open the rift on my own eludes me, but I think I figured out a way around it. It is a rather aggravating solution however," His voice came out more bitter than he liked. Xavier rarely let anger get the better of him, but the what texts he had deciphered in the ruins here where clear. He just didn't like what they had to say.

"Oh my, it must be bad for you to sound even a little upset over it," Kyressa smirked, finding humor in his distress, "Tell me, what did the Oracle Stones reveal?"

Xavier sighed as he stopped by the wall of the _Scythe_ 's missile tubes. He could still hear the flak turrets pounding away at their pursuers.

"For me to leave, all foreign elements that came through with me must leave with me. That means that I those I'd rather leave stuck here must be gathered together, the ritual performed, and we must all put aside our quarrels and leave peacefully."

"And what if they don't want to leave?"

"They don't get a choice."

"And if they're dead?"

"All the better according to the Stones."


End file.
